Employer Info - College of Design and Engineering

Information for Industry Partners

Internships are a key element of our emphasis on experiential learning. It provides students with an opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to practical work situations, gaining valuable work experience, industry knowledge and skills.

It is our hope that students will receive a meaningful and holistic engineering experience at the end of their internships.

Internship Programmes

1.	Industrial Attachment (IA)
	Minimum 20 weeks in duration.
2.	Vacation Industrial Attachment (VIA)
	Minimum 12 weeks in duration.

As our Industrial Attachment programmes are credit bearing courses, the internships must be relevant to students’ engineering discipline and offer ample opportunities for students to apply their engineering knowledge.

All internship opportunities have to be submitted as a posting via the NUS TalentConnect (TC) portal under the appropriate Industrial Attachment programme for review by the respective Departments. Once the postings are approved, Employers will be notified and the postings will be published in TC for student application.

Placement Timeline

Programme	Term	Internship Period	Employer TalentConnect Posting Window^~^#	Student Application Window*
Industrial Attachment	Semester 1	21 Jul to 5 Dec 2025	16 Dec 2024 to 21 Mar 2025	20 Jan to 18 Apr 2025
Industrial Attachment	Semester 2	6 Jan to 23 May 2025	15 Jul to 18 Oct 2024	12 Aug to 15 Nov 2024
Vacation Industrial Attachment^	Summer Vacation	12 May to 1 Aug 2025	16 Dec 2024 to 21 Mar 2025	20 Jan to 18 Apr 2025

~ Employers will receive an email notification with more details prior to the posting window. Please let us know if you did not receive the email.

# Postings are approved in batches every 2 to 3 weeks. Postings submitted after the closing date of the Employer Posting Window will not be reviewed.

* Upon receiving student applications, please proceed to contact students directly to arrange for interviews. Offers have to be approved under the appropriate Internship Programme and accepted via the NUS TalentConnect to be recognized by the College.

The Centre for Future-ready Graduates (CFG) is responsible for issuing Internship Support Letters for internships under the CFG Vacation Internship Programme (VIP).

Internship Period

Employers are to note that there are official internship periods for each Internship Programme.

Students may start their internships earlier or end their internships later but please ensure that the internships fulfil the official internship period in order to meet the course requirements.

Assessment & Grading

Students will be jointly evaluated by their work supervisor and CDE internship mentor on factors such as professionalism and conduct, verbal and written communication, ability to understand context and apply technical training.

A link to the Internship Assessment Guide will be provided to both students and Employers via the Internship Support Letter.

TalentConnect Recruitment Procedures

Submitting Internship Postings

Register your company via Sign-up if you have not obtained the complimentary account to the NUS TalentConnect (TC) portal.
Login to NUS TalentConnect at https://nus-csm.symplicity.com/employers/index.php
Click on the 'Create Job Posting' on the right column.
Under 'Position Type', select 'Internships - College of Design and Engineering (Engineering)'. followed by selecting “Yes” to enter into the selection of internship programmes.
Under ‘Restrict Applications/Activate Screening’, select ‘Yes’.
Select the appropriate 'Work Term'.
Under Experiential Learning Placement Type, select accordingly. Please select one type only.
- Industrial Attachment (EG3611A)
- Vacation Industrial Attachment (EG3612)
Enter the “Internship / Project Title” and other required information.
- Please note that selecting relevant Engineering Disciplines determines which departments are required to review and approve the posting. Posting will be published to students of the selected Engineering Disciplines if approved and deemed suitable.
Select your preferred way of receiving student applications/resumes
- Please remember to select ‘Accumulate Online’ to ensure that the system captures a record of the student applications.
Upon approval by the required departments, all approved postings will have a one month posting duration. The system will remind you via email nearing to the expiry of your postings and you can choose to extend them for another month if they are still available for student application.

Tracking Student Applications

The internship recruitment process is no different from hiring for your graduate positions. Upon receiving students’ applications, please proceed to contact and interview them. You may choose to update the student application status after the interview to better track the recruitment process.

Login to NUS TalentConnect at https://nus-csm.symplicity.com/employers/index.php
Click on the “View Job Postings” on the right column.
Click on the specific job / internship posting that you are recruiting for.
Click on “Student Resumes” to view the student applicants for the specific posting.
Update the student application status on the drop-down list located on the right side to better track the recruitment process.
1. Not Qualified – Student is not qualified for this position.
2. Reviewed – You have reviewed this student application.
3. Shortlisted – You have reviewed this student application and would like to shortlist him/her for interview.
4. Accepted – You would like to extend an offer to the student.

Extending Offers to Students

Please note that only offers that meet the following criteria will be recognized by the College.

Approved under the CDE Engineering Industrial Attachment programmes
Accepted via NUS TalentConnect

If you would like to record student applications in your company recruitment system, we would greatly appreciate if you could ensure that an accepted offer is recorded in the NUS TalentConnect portal.

Login to NUS TalentConnect at https://nus-csm.symplicity.com/employers/index.php
Click on the “View Job Postings” on the right column.
Click on the specific job / internship posting that you are extending an offer.
Click on “Student Resumes”.
Rank the student applicants in order of preference via the ‘Rank‘ drop-down list (1, 2, 3…)
- Indicating the students’ rank will allow the system to auto extend your internship offer to the next ranked student if any offers expire or declined. You will be notified of any auto extend.
Click on the ‘Offer Position‘ button for the chosen student applicant(s).
- If there is one opening, click ‘Offer Position’ for the student ranked 1st. If there are two openings, click ‘Offer Position’ for the students ranked 1st and 2nd.
Once students have accepted your offers via NUS TalentConnect, these internship placements will be automatically recorded in the system.
You can proceed with the necessary onboarding arrangements directly with our students.
- We recommend that all employers inform student interns of the key employment terms of the internship through a written agreement or contract of service to ensure an aligned understanding of the terms and conditions.

Administrative Information

Internship Allowance & CPF Exemption

The minimum monthly allowance for BEng students is SGD1,000.

Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions are exempted for NUS matriculated students employed for training approved by NUS during the school term and/or school holiday periods. Refer to the CPF board website for more information.

Insurance

All full-time matriculated students of NUS subscribe to a compulsory Insurance Scheme as part of the student’s miscellaneous fees.

Employers are recommended to cover the students under your organisation’s insurance schemes such as medical or workmen’s compensation (WICA), especially if they are required to work in high risk environments (i.e. laboratories, shipyards, heavy industry environments with machinery/equipment).

Internship Support Letter

Global Ready Talent (GRT) Internship Grant Application

Contract of Service

Work Hours

Students will follow the official working hours of the Employer. Under the Employment Act,

An employee should not be required to work for more than 8 hours in a day or more than 44 hours in a week. However, he/she may be required to work overtime if he consents to do so, subject to the limit of 12 hours per day and a maximum of 72 hours per month.
The Employer must pay the employee for the extra hours of work or for working on his rest days or public holidays. An employer must grant the employee one rest day (which is not paid) in a week, which may be on a Sunday or any other day.

Leave

Leave may be granted at the Employer’s discretion. Students and Employers are to refer to the internship contract and abide by the contractual terms and Employer HR practices. The College recommends the following.

Annual Leave: Up to 3 days (for Industrial Attachment) | Up to 1 day (for Vacation Industrial Attachment)

Sick & Hospitalisation Leave: As per the Employer’s HR practice.

The student must inform or tried to inform the Employer within 48 hours of his/her absence.
The student’s sick leave must be certified by the company’s doctor or a government doctor (including doctors and dentists from approved public medical institutions).
Employers and students are to notify the Careers & Internships team if students’ sick leave application exceeds what is entitled or if students require extended sick leave.

Compassionate Leave: Typically provided if there is a passing of an immediate family member and is to be granted at the Employer’s discretion.

Special Leave: The College encourages Employers to allow students to participate in official competitions and events representing Singapore or NUS.

Students may use their annual leave for such situations or Employers may request for students to make up for the time away if the annual leave is insufficient.

Evening Classes & Exam Leave

Students may wish to take evening courses while on Industrial Attachment (not applicable to the Vacation Industrial Attachment). The courses are typically conducted on-campus from 6pm onwards.

Students are required to submit an application and require endorsement from both Employer and Department. The application will indicate the course details such as Lecture Day/Time and Exam Date.

Employers are requested to permit approved students to leave work earlier for the classes as well as grant examination leave for mandatory examinations. Students will have to submit the relevant supporting documents such as the examination timetable to their Employer.

Termination Notice

Employers and students should complete the entire internship period or the mutually agreed upon period.

If there are any issues between the Employer and student, please inform the Careers & Internships team or the assigned CDE Mentor to mediate before considering the option of termination.

In case of early termination by either party, a termination notice can apply if mutually agreed upon at the time of the internship acceptance.

National Service (NS)

NSmen who are called up for In-camp Training (ICT) during their reservist periods will not be granted deferment on the grounds of academic commitments. Students are to submit the ICT notice to the company as soon as they receive the notice issued by MINDEF.

The College does not require students to make up for the time away at ICT for up to 3 weeks.
Employers may wish to discuss with their students for an extension of their internship to make up for the time away at ICT.

Confidentiality of Information & Intellectual Property

Employers should brief the students on what constitutes confidential information. Students should be made aware that such confidential information cannot be discussed or shared externally. If necessary, a non-disclosure agreement should be signed between students and Employers.

Employers and students should mutually agree on terms and conditions of Intellectual Property rights as per internship agreement.

Workplace Incidents or Injuries

Work Pass Exemption for Foreign Students

Contact us

CDE Engineering Careers & Internships team at cde.iacareer.emp@nus.edu.sg