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75pc academics require student internship

Dubai, December 10, 2012

About 75.6 per cent of academic institutions require their students to complete an internship, according to a recent ‘Internships in the Mena region’ poll conducted by Bayt.com.

A majority of respondents believe that internships are useful to both employers and interns (74.8 per cent) with 30 per cent stating they are equally valued by both parties.

A large portion of respondents (31.1 per cent) think that companies hire interns in order to spot top talents for future employment. Meanwhile, 36.5 per cent of respondents believe that companies hire interns in order to cut back on costs. Interestingly, 55.2 per cent of internships in the region are paid in one way or another.

Of those who have held intern positions, the respondents considered their experience to primarily be important for developing and learning new skills and knowledge (48.3 per cent), followed by gaining experience to add to their CV (28.9 per cent).

The majority (34.8 per cent) state that their experience as an intern was ‘good’, while 19.1 per cent believe that they were over-supervised, while the work they handled was very relevant to their background and future endeavours (39.8 per cent), as well as being extremely challenging (36.9 per cent).

Almost three quarters (73.4 per cent) say they were appointed a mentor during their tenure, however, of these, 18 per cent state that their mentor didn’t offer them great help. While seven out of 10 (71 per cent) claim to have received an appraisal (either in a one-on-one session with a supervisor, in a formal document, or both), 28.9 per cent state that they received no feedback at all.

On the other hand, 15.4 per cent state to have never done an internship, although 24.3 per cent would either like to, or are planning to. Three quarters (75.6 per cent) state that their academic institution required them to become an intern, which correlates with the perception that such positions are aimed primarily at college students (21.5 per cent) or fresh graduates (40.3 per cent).

“Interns represent a significant and valuable pool of talent, and should be harnessed for their abilities to bring fresh insights and perspectives into industry. Employers can identify future talents by taking on students and graduates, providing them with a realistic perspective and expectations of their desired industries and allowing them to gain valuable skills and experience,” said Suhail Masri, vice president of sales, Bayt.com.

“Bayt.com works very closely with industry to tap into top talent at all career levels including fresh college graduates and students seeking internships and we have seen an increased appetite for interns from employers across industry sectors,” he said.

“Bayt.com specialises in gathering data that is relevant to the recruitment industry in the Mena region. We bring together statistics that make a difference to employers and job seekers alike, to provide invaluable insight into the region’s trends.”

Data for the Bayt.com “Internships in the Mena region” poll was collected from October 29 – December 4, with 9,050 respondents covering more than 12 countries in the Mena region. – TradeArabia News Service




Tags: UAE | Mena | Dubai | Internship |

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