Intern programme coordinated by Jaideep Prabhu of Cambridge Judge sends students to work with low incomes communities in urban and rural India.
The Tata Social Internship sent three students this year from Cambridge University to work on different projects run by Tata companies in urban and rural India. Their visits were coordinated by Professor Jaideep Prabhu at Cambridge Judge Business School.
A total of 16 students from five universities in the UK and the US participated this year in the internship programme launched in 2008 by the Tata Group. The three Cambridge students worked on projects focusing on clean drinking water, reducing water wastage in villages and lowering hospital infection rates.
More than 30 students from the University of Cambridge have participated in the project since 2008 including Cambridge Judge Business School alumna Valerie Fitton-Kane (MBA 2008). Other universities participating in the eight-week programme this year included the London School of Economics; University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Davis; and University of California, Santa Cruz.
“The Tata Social Internship offers a remarkable opportunity for students from the university to learn about India, development and corporate social responsibility,” said Prabhu, Jawaharlal Nehru Professor of Indian Business & Enterprise and Director of the Centre for India & Global Business (CIGB) at Cambridge Judge.
“The range of Tata companies involved means that students end up working in diverse settings including urban slums and remote villages, on diverse issues of social relevance including education, water and sanitation, social enterprise, health and agriculture. In the short space of two months, with mentorship from Tata employees, the interns are exposed to many difficult issues and the various solutions that are being brought to bear to address them.”