ISLAMABAD- The Ministry of Science and Technology has launched an internship programme for IT professionals. About 500 students from 75 universities /institutions will benefit from the program. Each student will be given Rs3,000 per month as stipend. IT students will be given a six-month internship.

According to a press release, the project would be executed by the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) in a period of six months with an amount of more than Rs4 million. It has been launched to facilitate IT students, software houses and to increase software export of the country.

Under the project, students from the four provinces will be selected. Participation from all major cities will be ensured to expose each city with its talent and capabilities to software houses. The project will give IT managers a chance to look into the skills of the students without having to bear the cost.

Every institute will nominate its top five to six students based on the criteria i.e. top grade-holders, team player capabilities and technical knowledge.

The software houses will be selected by advertising the program and then short-listing them, keeping in view the number of years in the business, number of employees, past projects and the available infrastructure.

Each software house will be allowed to interview and select internees. The award of internship is subjected to the selection of a candidate by a software house.

The press release said there was a common complaint among IT students that it was very difficult to get a proper job right after graduation.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/16/2002