Joint Standards Internship Proposal:

IEEE and ITU

Susan K. Tatiner

26 March 2012

Description of proposal

IEEE has developed a proposal for a joint Standards Internship Program with ITU to launch in August 2013.

 Targeted to graduate engineering students studying in India

One-semester internships

An internship would take place in India, Switzerland, the U.S., and other countries, where the intern would work for a corporate sponsor, found by IEEE and/or ITU.

IEEE and ITU would act as a joint Internship Bureau, linking students looking for internships with companies looking for interns.

 

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Why should we do this?

The overall goal is to ground engineering students in an understanding of standards development in their technical field of interest while providing participating corporations with useful interns to support standards development work.

SEC India Ad Hoc has advocated for Standards Internship program as part of its mission

A Standards Internship Program—with Corporate Partners--was one of the ideas developed from University Outreach visits the SEC made in 2010-2011.  

IEEE research indicates that engineering students in India are often required to participate in internships as a condition of their degree, with limited help finding the opportunities.  

Mutual benefits to IEEE and ITU. It would create a model for collaboration on Standards Education, would extend the reach of both our efforts in India, and would enable us to provide a benefit to industry partners who support standardization.

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How will we do this?

IEEE and ITU will work together to develop a plan for a pilot program focusing on no more than two industries/technical areas.

The plan will create a joint Standards Internship Bureau to bring together students interested in internships and corporations interested in sponsoring students for Standards Internships.

Will consider these elements for all phases of the internship: – Goals – Types of expected tasks/projects– Supervision/mentorship – Training/on-boarding– Amount of time expected from intern– Compensation/benefits for intern– Legal requirements

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Business arrangements

The Standards Internship Program service is intended to be offered at no charge to students and corporations.

IEEE will pay for the cost of the initial plan, to be developed by a consultant.

IEEE and ITU would each bear the cost of operating the program in their organization.

Corporate sponsors would be expected to offer paid internships, including payment during the short period of the internship spent at the host SDO’s headquarters.

Neither IEEE nor ITU would pay the travel or living expenses of the students. A decision about payment of these costs by the corporation or the student would be part of the negotiating process between them.

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Timeline

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May 2012

Proposal agreed on in principle

Aug2012 Standards Internship Program Plan

Sep2012 Plan agreed on by both parties

Oct 2012 MOU completed

Nov2012 Target industries and universities chosen

Dec 2012

Outreach to corporate partners begins

Dec 2012

Outreach to students and universities in India begins

Feb 2013 Corporate sponsors identified

Apr 2013 Intern candidates identified

May 2013

Interns selected

Jun-Jul 2013

IEEE and ITU work internally to design plan for the interns’ SDO visit; work with corporate sponsor to support their planning

Aug 2013

First interns begin their placements

Next steps

Upon ITU’s expressed interest, IEEE will begin work on the Standards Internship Program Plan, scheduled for delivery to ITU in August 2012, for discussion and review.  

Upon joint acceptance of the Plan, IEEE will draft a Memorandum of Understanding on the Standards Internship Program, with information on the terms and duration of the agreement, general terms and conditions, and other obligations.

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Thank you!

DISCUSSION

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