2 schools join NUS to bar firm from their internship portals

The National University of Singapore (NUS) and other schools, such as Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Lasalle College of the Arts, have removed a firm, whose director is suspected of harassing interns, from their internship portals.

The removal of the local tech company follows allegations of inappropriate conduct by its director. According to a report in The New Paper, he is alleged to have offered a female NUS student twice the usual internship allowance provided she accompany him on a business trip without telling the school.

The encounter had allegedly occurred during an interview which took place in March via a one-way Skype video call, meaning the director could see her, but she was not able to see him. When she told faculty staff, they were alarmed and immediately flagged the company before making a police report in April.

Similar allegations against the director go back as far as 2016, but the firm was still listed on an NUS internship portal until May this year.

An NUS spokesman said that between 2016 and 2017, the university received feedback from three students from different departments about the company's allegedly unfair work practices.

Said the spokesman: "The university takes a serious view of any alleged harassment of our students. As a precautionary measure, the company's access to the university's main job portal was disabled from April 5, 2018. This barred the company from viewing or receiving job applications from our students via the portal, as well as from posting new jobs."

The company was removed from the portal in May. Similarly, NTU and Lasalle College have also barred the company from their internship portals. Both are also looking at measures to make sure their interns are better protected.

A Lasalle spokesman said the college would blacklist organisations that are the subject of "legitimate complaints". The school already has in place briefings for students going on internships. Internship partners are also selected based on a long-term relationship with the school and a track record of professionalism in the industry.

An NTU spokesman said that companies interested in offering their students places for internships would need to fulfil certain criteria - such as being in operation for at least two years, with at least three full-time employees and $10,000 in paid-up capital. The company must also provide appropriate work for the internship programme that is relevant to the student's studies.

The university's interns are jointly managed by two supervisors, one from the company and another from the university.

According to the spokesman, students are briefed and advised before starting their internship that their supervisors serve as their first points of contact for support, advice and assistance.

The university added: "When a company has been flagged by students for inappropriate conduct, the university will conduct an investigation. Where necessary, the university may blacklist the company, or the particular company supervisor, and students will also be pulled out from their internships."

The precautions are increasingly pertinent, in the light of the rising number of overseas internships taken by students from local universities, including NUS and NTU, which have both seen year-on-year increases in the number of overseas internships completed.

In the past three academic years, NUS saw an average year-on-year increase of about 22 per cent in the number of overseas internships completed. Between August 2016 and July 2017, NUS students completed close to 490 internships in over 40 countries. At NTU, an average of 165 students went abroad annually for internships and work attachments.