International Internship India (SA 59004) is a dual-discipline, 3-credit-hour joint internship program between Purdue IE and Krannert. This was the second year that IE has been formally involved with the program since it started 11 years ago. Classes were taught by Patrick "Doc B" Brunese, IE Director of Academic Programs, and Suresh Chand, professor of management and the Louis A. Weil Jr. Chair of Management at Krannert.

The internship provided a unique opportunity for students to globalize their resume through a working internship with the TVS Motor Company. Teams of two or three students worked daily with TVS mentors on a variety of business issues and problems, then presented their solutions to senior management at the end of the internship. The opportunity gave them a taste of Indian business culture and showed them examples of manufacturing, logistics, supplier management, and market segmentation.

"The opportunity to work on an acute, real-world problem, for a global company shouldn’t be passed up," said Brunese. "The internship program with TVS allows students to pair relevant work experience with the development of global competency, while still maintaining the possibility of returning to the U.S. or their home country for a regular internship."

IE undergrad Jiani He, from Chengdu, China, chose the internship because she wanted to challenge her comfort zone and explore working in India. As far as working went, "I learned that in the real world, the data may be kind of messy," she said. "It was very challenging to deal with incomplete and unorganized data. And you had to make sure you and your partner were on the same page."

Rising senior Kulwinder S. Dhaliwal, from Orange County, CA, has family from India but had never visited there himself. He chose this opportunity to learn more about the country and about interning. He said, "The internship was very mentor-focused, as each group usually had one mentor and one to two interns." 

Singh valued another take-away also: "The most valuable lesson I learned is time management, as it is pivotal for projects," he explained. "This also applies personally as I used to have horrible time management growing up."

This year, the organizers included more formal intercultural competence training for the students. "Intercultural competence training helped me to understand why people with different backgrounds - especially different cultures - behave and act so differently," said He.

On weekends and evenings the students spent time exploring, including visiting Infosys, the Taj Mahal, and a temple; attending a cultural show with dancing and singing; and eating dinner at TVS managers' houses.

The course will be offered again in May 2019.

Read about the 2017 India Internship

Writer: DeEtte Starr, starrd@purdue.edu