The Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology (EiTEX) was established as a Textile Technology Department in 1963 under Bahir Dar Poly Technique Institute. For about 33 years the training program was in the level of Diploma and Advance Diploma in the field of Textile Technology. In 1996 the Department of Textile Technology changed to Textile Engineering Department and the training program correspondingly promoted to Degree level. Far along in 2009 the Textile Engineering Department of Engineering Faculty under Bahir Dar University promoted to Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology.

About Institute- Industry linkage and internship program

University-Industry Linkage is an essential condition for knowledge and technology transfer from university to the industry. Graduates of the university and research outputs have to be captivated by the industry. The outcomes of research undertaken in universities have to be transferred to the industry and impact the living standard of the society.

Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology (EiTEX) is a premier institute under Bahir Dar University is responsible for human resource development in Textile, Apparel and leather in Ethiopia.

Internship Program of EiTEX

Internship is work-based activities in which students engage in learning through practical and relevant experiences at various internship sites. Internship is undertaken by students who are at or near the end of their academic program. These structured experiences involve the practical application of previously studied theory through course work. Internships are targeted to the students’ meaningful future plans and allow students to explore careers that require additional knowledge, certification, or on-the-job training.

Model internships are planned, structured, and evaluated by the intern, internship coordinator, Company internship Supervisor and academic advisor/mentor/, and even parents. Effective internships provide interns with the opportunities to develop an understanding of the career area duties and responsibilities, terminology, process, protocol, and other information that will enable interns to analyze and revise their meaningful future plans. There must be agreements, understandings, instruction, and orientation for all participants; coordination by each program and office of industry linkage, evaluation of each intern’s experience; and program analysis for future improvements.

Objectives

This industry internship is aimed towards blending the class room principles with industry application. This internship will help industry to analyze day to day activities with the help of internees who in turn will learn practical application of different principles and will be able to draw inferences. This internship also helps students to learn and improve their interpersonal communication skills with colleagues, group and workers. It is known that students will be working in different organizations for about four months to complete the Industrial Internship practice. During this period students will gain on-the-job practical training under the guidance of assigned advisors (academic advisor and company advisor). So, the main objectives of the internship are;

   To let students understand the whole system of the company with practical exposure.

   To know the application of real-life projects and/or assignments based on current market demand that can be decided based on the company’s requirement.

   Students able to know the culture of the industry job and to enhancing their positive attitudes, their communication ability and work ethics.

To enhancing the skill of students to see the real problem of the company and to identify the right solution of it with integration of theoretical and practical exposures.

Benefits and Advantages of the Internship

The internship program is an arrangement involving the student, the school/program, and the industries/organizations of the community. Each of these will benefit from the existence and operation of an effective internship program. Some benefits of the program include but are not limited to:

   Students receive guidance and feedback during the entire internship period.

   Industries/organizations are utilized for specialized training.

   Internship experiences assist in exploring future career choices.

The private sector is provided with opportunities to take an active part in the education and career preparation of students in the local community.

Job experiences are supplemented with technical information and encounters that cannot be simulated in the classroom.

In addition to these general benefits, internships offer specific advantages to the student, institute, and the organization.

Internship student’s task

It is known that students will be working in different organizations for four months to complete their Industrial Internship practice. During this period the students will gain on-the-job practical training under the guidance of their advisors (academic advisor and company advisor). The objective of the internship is categorized into the following two tasks:

Task One

Students are expected tounderstand the whole system of the company (from supplier of raw materials, accessories and machineries to customer side) and the whole production system (inputs, process and output stages), layout, maintenance, waste management and organizational structure of the company and further the student has to be collect data and information from different sections of the organization/factory/ to make the internship program more practical and fruitful.

Task Two

Task twois a project work on a specific problem area that can be decided based on the output of the first task. The title and the content of this task can be decided by the student and their advisors. The individuality and originality of the work is the minimum criteria for the project to be acceptable by the institute and hosting company and the project must be inclusive a minimum of a short summery of the project, Problem statement & Justification, Objective of the project, Methodology, Literature review, Result & Discussion and Recommendation and conclusion to completed the internship program. All this are evaluated by company advisors, academic advisors and juries.

Internship Evaluation Guideline

Academic advisors’ evaluation

Comprise 20% of the total marks given for the students and academic advisor evaluates intern in three phases. For each phase, the evaluation form is attached. It will be based on the mentors’ assessment like: The quality of the students’ learning objectives, Students’ weekly and monthly report, identifying of the real problem and approach to the solution, Timely submitting report and documentation and the overall feedbacks the mentors get from the company concerning the competences of the students, etc

Students' intership Attendance

Students’ internship Attendance: Comprise 10% of the total marks given for the students. The students will have full marks when they must be attended fully internship periods (four months exclusive the weekend and holiday) and More than 10 days absent or more than 15 days late, the students will be Incomplete.

Quality of the Final Report Representations (to be used by jury)

Quality of the Final Report and Students Presentations Evaluation form – Comprise 50% of the total marks given for the students. It will be based on the quality of the report and the skill of the presentation of the students. This will be done by setting up a panel for evaluating each and every student’s report and presentations. Juries have the right to reject the report if the students fail to execute the internship objective and the results of the student will be incomplete.

Company advisor’s evaluation

Company advisor’s evaluation: Comprise 20% of the total marks given for the students. It will be based on the supervisors’ judgments on the quality of the student’s performances and their professional ethics.

Some articles are stated as rules and responsibility of the concerned bodies and also it stated the student’s code of conduct on the operational manual for IndustrialInternship programs through the internship period. Some of those are: our Intern/Student/ Role and Responsibilities, Internship Coordinator Role and Responsibilities, Academic Supervisor/mentor roles and Responsibilities, Responsi bilities of the company adviser, General Guidelines for the document and Code of professional and ethical conduct for our intern’s student.

Contact person:

Erkihun Zelalem [Lecturer]

Institute Industry Linkage Officer

Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology

Bahir Dar University

Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

Mobile: +2519 43520597

Email: erkihunz09@gmail.com

P.O. Box: 1037