Twelve Brown students spent the summer pursuing unpaid business internships in India as part of a new program sponsored by the Program in Commerce, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship. The inaugural year of the eight-week program partnered undergraduates interested in entrepreneurship with an array of prominent Indian businesses, said officials involved with the program.
Though internship participants do not receive a salary, COE covers the students' travel, medical and visa costs, and the companies provide for room and board, said Maria Carkovic, the administrative director of COE and coordinator of the internship program.
Carkovic declined to comment on the cost per student incurred by the University or the total budget of the program.
Each company was assigned two interns, who in turn each had a mentor and a specific project to work on during the allotted internship time.
"The companies are all Indian-based, but several are global in the sense that they have business around the world," Carkovic said. The types of company vary, she said, spanning from "telecommunications to real estate." Businesses are located in New Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta, and students live in these cities for the duration of the program.
Vice President for Research and former Dean of Engineering Clyde Briant told The Herald that the companies were selected based on existing connections with alums and individuals otherwise tied to the University.
In his former position as dean of engineering, Briant heard from alums and individuals with connections to India who were interested in fostering connections between the University and businesses in the country, he said.
"Also, I was thinking that India right now is such an important country in the world," he said.
"I certainly hope it grows so that more students go, as other companies get interested. It's a wonderful opportunity," Briant said.
Though the internships were sponsored by COE and the University, participating students did not receive academic credit for the program, Carkovic said.
Laszlo Syrop '08, an economics concentrator, worked for Bharti Airtel Limited, a telecommunications company, through the internship program this past summer. He was placed in the strategy division because "they asked what my interests were, and I said strategy."
Though he thoroughly enjoyed the program, he questioned what value he provided to the company. "It was difficult to do that much for them because so much is based on technology. I don't know how much real value they got from us. But, I think it was a big thing for them - they're very forward-thinking - for a long-term partnership," he said.
"The people at the company were great. If we had a problem, or wanted more information or just wanted to learn more about the company, they would send us wherever, just to give us exposure. We even got to meet with the chairman for five minutes," he said.
Because the inaugural year of the program coincided with the first declarations of concentration in COE, the internship program was open to any student.
During the summer of 2007, however, "the internship will be open to COE concentrators only," Carkovic said.
Carkovic and Briant said they anticipate that, in the future, the program may expand in scope and will allow more students to participate. But next year's program will be similar in size to this year's, Carkovic said.
Carkovic said this past summer only 15 students applied for the 12 spots. "I expect a lot more applicants this year," she said.
Carkovic also said she believes students who participated this year had positive experiences with the program. "Their experience from what I've heard was wonderful, especially culturally," she said.
"If you knew what to expect - if you like Indian food and you were excited - you would love it," Syrop said.
