Industrial Attachment Programme enables students to learn beyond the boundaries of the classroom. It integrates both training and performance evaluation as part of the program requirements. Through this program, it allows students to gain on-the-job training and work professionalism to prepare us to contribute effectively as soon as we graduate.But as far as we know, the industrial attachment programme in NUS is not made available to all science students. Not all the science students need to go through the industrial attachment programme in NUS, it is not an integral part of our curriculum. This might possess problems to gain practical experiences in the working environment as compared to other fresh graduates from other universities. Other problems that might resulted are students are not able to put into practice the knowledge and skills acquired from their course, applying it to real-life working environment, gaining the required experience even before they graduate. In that case, the students are not prepared for ready absorption into the workforce as theories learnt in university and real-life working situations are totally different. The students are not instilled with the right kind of work attitudes and professionalism through interaction with people in the organizations, then how can we become effective and productive to our respective organizations? People from the industry might judge the NUS graduates as being not well-equipped with hands on skill. Therefore, my research question is should industrial attachment programme be made available to all science students in NUS?
An attitudinal survey is used as a medium for the population to voice out their feedback and suggestions. In this case, it would help by identifying how science students feel about the current Industrial Attachment Programme system in NUS and also to determine if industrial attachment programme should be made available to them.
4 comments:
Hi Xiao Ting,
I agree with you on that the Industrial Attachment Programme allows students to gain on-the-job training as well as apply the theories we have learnt in the university to real life working situations. A student intending to work in the industry after graduation would find the Industrial Attachment Programme greatly enriching.
Contrary to what you mentioned in your blog post and what you have stated in your research question, some Industrial Attachment Programmes are already made available to Science students. Students majoring in Applied Chemistry and Pharmacy have compulsory Industrial Attachment during their stint in NUS. Students in other majors such as Life Science and Chemistry are also free to apply for internships with companies such as BioPolis during the 3-month long summer vacation.
My point is that the IA Programme is currently already available to all students who are interested in applying for them, be it during semester time (such as that for the Applied Chemistry students) or during school vacation (as with summer internships). The onus is now on the students who are interested in such programmes to apply for them.
I am not too sure if what you meant is that IA Programmes should be made compulsory, or should NUS "guarantee" students an IA placement by sourcing for these intern positions on their behalf as what SMU does. Either way, the research question has to clarify what is meant by IA should be made "available" to students before it can be feasible.
Just my two cents' worth - see you around in class!
Cheers,
Xueli
Hi Xiao Ting!
Judging from your statement, "Not all the science students need to go through the industrial attachment programme in NUS, it is not an integral part of our curriculum.” I am assuming you mean that IA should be part of our mandatory curriculum. Personally I wouldn't welcome the thought but that's not important.
I agree that IA gives you the opportunity to earn hands-on skills, but I've heard (from my social circle, at least), that most of the time you don't really do work that is directly related to your field of study. You may be assigned to positions that do not require the theories and such, hence most of the time it's probably just observations, which, of course, is better than nothing.
Because most science courses are lab-based, you might say that we are already doing hands-on that is, well, probably not much difference in similar industries. But students who are not required to do IA, as Xue Li has mentioned, are welcomed to apply for internships which is an alternative to IA.
Overall, though, it is still feasible to gather the opinions of science students to investigate views towards IA. For all you know, NUS science students might have to do IA in the future!
Hi Xiao Ting,
I would like to raise the same question as Xueli - What do you mean by making Industrial Attachment available to Science students?
While it is true that the application of internships during vacation are open to students, the vacancies are often very limited. I have tried to apply for such internships before, but i failed to get one due to stiff competition. For the students like me who wish to go for attachment/internship but do not have the chance to experience hands-on, it may be good to introduce IA as part of our curriculum, therefore, I think it is feasible to integrate IA as part of science students' curriculum, like how NTU has emphasized the importance of hands-on experience by ensuring their students will go through IA during their course of study.
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