Infosys'' internship programme attracts over 9,000 global applicants

Mumbai: Infosys Technologies today welcomed 40 interns at its Bangalore campus as part of its 'global internship programme', InStep. During the year, InStep is expected to bring a total of 100 interns to Infosys from 70 universities across the world, including Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Wharton, MIT, London Business School and Asia Institute of Management.

InStep is the largest institutionalised global internship program of its kind in India. The InStep programme has representation of students from countries such as the USA, Japan, Canada, Germany and France.

Says. Nandan M Nilekani, chief executive officer, president and managing director, Infosys Technologies, "For years, students from India have been aspiring for internships at US companies. Now, an increasing number of students from across the world are coming to India to understand our business model."

"Through InStep, we provide an opportunity to introduce students from the top business, liberal arts and technical academic institutions in the world, to Infosys and India. It plays an important role in putting into action our management philosophy of a globally diverse Infoscion base," Nilekani added.

InStep, which began with 300 applications for 14 positions six years ago, received over 9,000 applications for 100 positions this year. In the past, interns who have been a part of the InStep program have had their articles and white papers published in several acclaimed magazines like JavaWorld and have presented them at international seminars such as IEEE.

Infosys intern Geoffrey Gelman from Harvard Business School, says, "There has been a lot of debate in the United States on the growing role of India in the world economy. I wanted to investigate this trend firsthand and gain international experience by working at a leading IT company headquartered in India."

InStep was started in 1999 and is offered to students from over 70 universities across the world. This intensive eight to 24-week internship program gives select students hands-on experience on developing state-of-the-art software services and solutions in Infosys' global development centers across the globe.

According to Victoria Chen, also interns at Infosys, from Claremont McKenna College said, "While rest of the world is reading or hearing lectures about the 'global delivery model' InStep provides an opportunity to experience it. When you return, you are more valuable in the world market because you have an increased understanding of a world-class company in one of the fastest growing economies of the world."

"Infosys offers its InStep interns the opportunity to gain valuable skills in an international business climate. As the centre of financial and business power diffuses, acquiring experience with a foreign, world-class company such as Infosys Technologies permits students to adapt with the changing global environment. In addition, living in India for a period is a definite value-add to the internship experience," concludes Brianna Dieter another global intern from Smith College.

InStep interns have an opportunity to work on real projects ranging from application development to business consulting, in practices that include corporate planning, education and research, enterprise solutions and software engineering and technology laboratories (SETLabs).