 "Poll year beckons B-school students to intern in politics")
With the general elections likely to happen in the summer of next year, B-school students are showing a renewed interest in interning with political parties and government agencies. In the ongoing summer placement process at various B-schools, many students are opting for internship with political organisations.
IIM Lucknow (IIM-L), Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) are among the B-schools witnessing the trend this year.
"We have approached political parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress - which are the McKinseys and Goldman Sachs of politics. Students have, however, not shown any interest to intern with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since it hired students who couldn't be placed anywhere last year from other B-schools," said Neeraj Senguttuen, convenor (corporate relations and placements) at IIFT.
At IIM-L, students have been approaching parties on their own. "Though not at the institute level, some of the students are making efforts at individual levels to intern with political parties in summer. This is more out of their general interest to be part of the election process and get some experience," said Pushpendra Priyadarshi, chairperson of placements at IIM-L.
On their part, students are of the view that working with a political party would supplement their existing area of study. Ishan Pratik, a student of IMT Ghaziabad, said: "Fund-raising and spending is a crucial activity for any political party and what better for a finance student to work on live activities on the lines of election manifesto. It would be a brain simulator for a management student."
For political organisations, management students are a ready resource for planning during the election period, since they are well-versed with data mining. Vishal Goyal, head of corporate relations at IMT Ghaziabad and Dubai said the students would be really keen, provided they get meaningful projects on areas such as strategy, data analysis (past voting trends/areas where the party may have won lost in the past, etc), marketing strategy, financial implications (rolling out new schemes, creation of jobs/subsidies, etc).
"They can really add value during poll campaigns, designing online campaigns, road shows, doing poll surveys, exit poll survey analysis, generating reports on the trend and future predictions," he added.
This year, three-to-four students from FMS volunteered in the party. "For the summer internships in political organisations next year, there has been no initiatives from the parties' side and, hence, we won't be able to comment on the interest for now," the institute stated.
With the summer placement process still continuing at IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K), the institute could not furnish specific details on students looking to intern with political organisations. "However, we are hopeful regarding the same. Even last year, three of our students interned at some of the political parties," said a placement committee member at IIM-K.
AAP has been running a massive campaign, calling for volunteers. A representative of the party said that students not just from FMS, but also from IIT and IIM have been working with them. "The students have been helping us not just in everyday activities, but also in door-to-door campaigns," the official said.
AAP has one-to-two month internship programmes and students are awarded a certificate at the end of the programme, recognising their contribution. In Mumbai, too, the party has got graduates and students from engineering institutes to volunteer. An official campaign has not yet begun in Mumbai for student volunteers.
A student from a Delhi-based management institute who interned with AAP explained that because it is a new party, a lot of value could be added by him in the campaign programme. "Since I am student of marketing and strategy, I was able to engage better with the party and provide inputs on how they could connect better with the masses. This is an experience, which I would not have gotten if I worked with any corporate," he said.
However, though students may have interned or are planning to volunteer with political parties, there has been no shift in career focus. Amit Gupta, a second-year PGPM student at MDI Gurgaon, said: "As the elections are nearing, students are obviously interested in what policies are being pursued by the political administrators. However, this has not translated into a career shift into politics at MDI."
Last year, a student at Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Trichy, too, did a summer internship with the BJP.
IIM Lucknow (IIM-L), Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) and Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) are among the B-schools witnessing the trend this year.
"We have approached political parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress - which are the McKinseys and Goldman Sachs of politics. Students have, however, not shown any interest to intern with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since it hired students who couldn't be placed anywhere last year from other B-schools," said Neeraj Senguttuen, convenor (corporate relations and placements) at IIFT.
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At IIM-L, students have been approaching parties on their own. "Though not at the institute level, some of the students are making efforts at individual levels to intern with political parties in summer. This is more out of their general interest to be part of the election process and get some experience," said Pushpendra Priyadarshi, chairperson of placements at IIM-L.
On their part, students are of the view that working with a political party would supplement their existing area of study. Ishan Pratik, a student of IMT Ghaziabad, said: "Fund-raising and spending is a crucial activity for any political party and what better for a finance student to work on live activities on the lines of election manifesto. It would be a brain simulator for a management student."
For political organisations, management students are a ready resource for planning during the election period, since they are well-versed with data mining. Vishal Goyal, head of corporate relations at IMT Ghaziabad and Dubai said the students would be really keen, provided they get meaningful projects on areas such as strategy, data analysis (past voting trends/areas where the party may have won lost in the past, etc), marketing strategy, financial implications (rolling out new schemes, creation of jobs/subsidies, etc).
"They can really add value during poll campaigns, designing online campaigns, road shows, doing poll surveys, exit poll survey analysis, generating reports on the trend and future predictions," he added.
This year, three-to-four students from FMS volunteered in the party. "For the summer internships in political organisations next year, there has been no initiatives from the parties' side and, hence, we won't be able to comment on the interest for now," the institute stated.
With the summer placement process still continuing at IIM Kozhikode (IIM-K), the institute could not furnish specific details on students looking to intern with political organisations. "However, we are hopeful regarding the same. Even last year, three of our students interned at some of the political parties," said a placement committee member at IIM-K.
AAP has been running a massive campaign, calling for volunteers. A representative of the party said that students not just from FMS, but also from IIT and IIM have been working with them. "The students have been helping us not just in everyday activities, but also in door-to-door campaigns," the official said.
AAP has one-to-two month internship programmes and students are awarded a certificate at the end of the programme, recognising their contribution. In Mumbai, too, the party has got graduates and students from engineering institutes to volunteer. An official campaign has not yet begun in Mumbai for student volunteers.
A student from a Delhi-based management institute who interned with AAP explained that because it is a new party, a lot of value could be added by him in the campaign programme. "Since I am student of marketing and strategy, I was able to engage better with the party and provide inputs on how they could connect better with the masses. This is an experience, which I would not have gotten if I worked with any corporate," he said.
However, though students may have interned or are planning to volunteer with political parties, there has been no shift in career focus. Amit Gupta, a second-year PGPM student at MDI Gurgaon, said: "As the elections are nearing, students are obviously interested in what policies are being pursued by the political administrators. However, this has not translated into a career shift into politics at MDI."
Last year, a student at Bharathidasan Institute of Management, Trichy, too, did a summer internship with the BJP.