Ask Our Lecturer! A/Prof Song Kee Hong on Internship
“Students enrolled in any bachelor’s degrees of the School of Design & Environment will be exposed to internships, which is an integral part of self-directed learning.”
A/Prof Song Kee Hong, Associate Professor
Division of Industrial Design, NUS
Why is internship important, particularly for students of Bachelor of Arts (Industrial Design)?
A good internship experience provides them with the opportunity to learn from the real-world. They can learn things that may not be taught on campus, particularly if their internship is in design, which is a sector that tends to evolve faster than academia is able to react. Our Bachelor of Arts (Industrial Design) students often find themselves in such evolving situation; internship helps them to be adaptable.
When can students intern?
Students can participate in internship programmes during semester breaks and some students have even taken an additional semester off to extend their internship.
What is the scope of the internship programme?
Our Division of Industrial Design (DID) students participate in internship programmes across diverse industrial sectors, including healthcare, finance, retail and business, which are outside traditional design-led organisations. This is because the programme has expanded to Service, User Experience and User Interface Design to meet increasing market demands. Much of the scope has also shifted upstream towards understanding user needs and framing design opportunities such that they lead to better design outcomes.
What is your advice for students undertaking internship?
The internship programme helps students enhance their learning while gaining valuable work and industry knowledge and skills. Students need to bear in mind that a successful internship needs to be mutually beneficial to both interns and the organisation. Hence, they should actively contribute as much as they are learning from the internship. Students can take up credit-bearing and non-credit-bearing internships as part of their formal study. DID offers undergraduate students credit-bearing internships through modules such as Design Internship, Work Experience Internship and Special Studies.
How are lecturers involved in the internship programme?
Personally, I am heavily involved in pairing students with opportunities and follow-up activities with organisations and stakeholders, to improve future intern matching profiles. Follow-up is important as a successful internship experience often avails future employment opportunities to our graduates.
More info on internships available here.