UWI and Fiscal Services Sign MoU for Internship Programme

The Department of Computing, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, and Fiscal Services Limited, on March 26 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which will see students benefiting from an internship programme at the organisation.

Under the MoU, advanced level computing students will acquire beneficial work experience to enhance their knowledge of professional best practices in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

At the signing ceremony, held at the UWI, Head of the Department of Computing, Dr. Ezra Mugisa, noted that the internship programme will enable students to be better prepared for the working environment.

“It is to provide students with an opportunity to develop a professional understanding of computing, so that they are prepared for employment. During the course they are expected to develop the ability to apply the concepts learnt in the classroom in a natural working situation and discover the value of work and the rewards of accomplishments,” Dr. Mugisa said.

He explained that  the internship programme seeks to provide an opportunity for students to develop a positive work ethic, test their own aptitude for, or interest in a selected field that they think they are interested in, and it ensures a natural transition to the highest level of professional preparation as a complement to the goals of the department.    

“At the end of the internship, we expect the students to apply the fundamentals of computing to practical programmes. We expect them to apply knowledge and skills learnt from their computing courses to actual computing programmes and situations and we expect them to write and present their ideas in a persuasive and professionally acceptable format and to be able to work with others in a professional and social setting,” Dr. Mugisa said.

The internships will be done during semesters one and two for a maximum of 12 hours per work week or during the University’s summer break for approximately 40 hours per work week, but could also be extended to weekends during the University’s semester with the agreement of Fiscal Services Limited, the intern and the Department of Computing.

During the internship, the intern will be under the guidance of a mentor/ supervisor appointed by Fiscal Services Limited, who will ensure that the intern is exposed to aspects of the institutional and occupational culture of a computer centre or department, and to professional best practices in computing.

For his part, Managing Director, Fiscal Services Limited,  Leroy Cooke, said  the internship programme offers the company the opportunity to assess a candidate’s potential as a full time employee.

“We would therefore avoid the pitfall of training a new (employee) only to find out that he or she is not fit for our organisation. The programme also allows us to take advantage of the short term support to increase our productivity,” he pointed out.

“Our participation in this internship programme is an excellent way to give back. Hiring interns not only helps students in our community to gain valuable experience, it enhances the local workforce on a whole,” he added.

Mr. Cooke argued that the programme will augment the government’s ICT workforce, which is the central objective of the government’s ICT policy.

Meanwhile, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Education, Dr. Franklin Johnston, challenged the students to not just go to Fiscal Services Limited in order to prepare for a job, but to also produce technologies that can be used globally.

“I would like you to begin producing something which has the potential to be mainstreamed. The intriguing thing about the internship programme is that you are being prepared for the world of work and I would like to suggest that maybe in addition to being prepared for the world of work, that our interns should be prepared for the global world of work,” he said.

Students are eligible to participate in the internship programme if they are pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology or an MPhil in Computer Science.  Twelve students are already benefitting from the programme.

By Latonya Linton, JIS Reporter