Internships occupy the earliest stage in a company’s talent strategy. Through internships, companies have found that they can significantly improve the quality and effectiveness of talent acquisition – even before students apply for a job. On the student side, internships allow students to test whether an employer really matches their career aspirations and helps smooth the critical school-to-work transition.

For companies that are willing to invest in their interns, the payoff is a pipeline of graduates that they already know and who know the company. If ex-interns apply, companies know they are not applying because of slick branding or campus pitch; they have experienced the company from the inside and understand what a career with the company signifies.

Investment in internships has an obvious benefit for companies, but there are also measurable benefits for students. In a EuroCham HR committee report on the advantages of internships and how the internship process is managed in Europe (based on interviews with 13 HR directors with Asia-wide responsibility), direct experience of business was judged to be the main benefit of internships for students. This experience allows students to make better choices when starting their careers, and was reported to be a more important part of internships than having a better chance of getting a job after graduation.

Of note, when Asian students gain experience by working in overseas internships, the experience can change their mindset and widen their understanding of the subject they are studying.

The Internship Gap in Asia

Internships in the late 20th century became an integral part of the business pipeline across the world. Even in places like the US, the UK and southern Europe, which did not have an established tradition of internships, there has been a remarkable increase in apprenticeships, internships and traineeships over the past 20 years. In the US, for example, a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that 55% of American students experienced internships.

In Asia, the need for internships has grown because the region has the fastest-growing number of young graduates in the world. Over the next two decades, hundreds of millions of educated workers in Asia will stream into the global workplace. A recent study by the United Nations and McKinsey & Co estimates that India and China will account for 57% of the world’s growth of tertiary-educated workers – that is 184 million graduates – by 2030. Including students from Southeast Asia, the number of Asian graduates will surpass the rest of the world.

The preparedness and skills of these students will be a key to the world’s economy. Eventually, due to sheer weight of numbers, Asian rather than Western leaders will run global businesses. However, the lack of well managed internship systems is a gap in the Asian education system that puts Asian graduates and organisations at a disadvantage.

To get an idea of this gap, compare an Asian university student who has never seen the inside of a company to a graduate from a French Grande Ecole (the top business and engineering schools in France) or a German technical school.

A student at a French business or engineering school spends no less than half of their time in internships, projects and international student exchanges. A French student may also choose to do non-profit or humanitarian work, gain experience in a start-up company, or design a personal project. The student is allowed to choose the length and schedules of their internships, but they must do international internships.

For a German student, internships usually come in the form of an apprenticeship. These include courses in a higher education institution and work in a company. Today, more than two-thirds of German youth opt for time-sharing apprenticeships, which allow them to learn any of 374 professions.

In contrast, an Asian student may not have access to an internship, and many graduate with no experience of working in a company. In general, internships in Asia are short, lasting about two months, and few schools require or promote international internships.

This gap between Asia and the West is gradually being reduced. Asian universities and professional schools are beginning to increase access to internships for their students. In fields such as tourism, IT and engineering, some schools now require students to have completed internships to graduate. Asian governments are beginning to promote internship in their education policies: for example, Singapore’s Ministry of Education has supported a requirement for five- to six-month internships at the professionally oriented universities Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) and SIM  University (UniSIM).

Top Five Actions for Asia

The EuroCham HR Committee report on internships highlighted more specific and immediate changes that Asian organisations can implement. A series of interviews with HR directors with Asia-wide responsibility for major European companies revealed a remarkable unity on what constitutes best practice in Asia. Here are five recommended actions for Asian countries to implement immediately:

1. Promote the positive value of internships for students in higher education.

2. Explore appropriate time requirements for internships in universities and technical schools – the average should span approximately five to six months, rather than one to three months. As you would expect, companies are not likely to invest in training for very short internship periods.

3. Develop international internships and make international exposure a requirement when appropriate.

4. Enhance quality requirements for companies, including a designated manager for each intern, proof of learning at the workplace, and a written evaluation sent to the intern’s school.

5. Generalise professional management of interns in institutions of higher education, and give academic credit for internships as a requirement for graduation.

Just as organisations have HR professionals, higher education institutions need trained development professionals. This role should include coordination with companies, career guidance, skills development and internship assessment professionals.

To ensure that interns receive quality internships, managers must be coaches and mentors, as well as work supervisors and skills trainers. For example, managers overseeing interns should be able to provide them with feedback on their strengths and further development needs, as well as give career advice.

EuroCham  proposes developing concrete cooperation for promoting an exchange of interns between Singapore and Europe. This – as well as other initiatives taken by member companies – reflects the unique contributions that Singapore and Europe have made to each other in the past and will continue to make in the future.

This article was first published in HQ Asia (Print) Issue 08 (2014)