TIIB signs 22 companies to paid student internships

TIIB has signed direct agreements with its 22 partner companies under the Industry Connect Internship Program, or ICIP. They put diploma students into paid internships with those companies during their studies rather than after them.

What the agreements cover

Each one commits a partner company to host TIIB students on a real brief, paying up to AED 1,000 a month based on performance. Internship hours are capped at 20 a week, which is the limit UAE rules set for students, so the placement fits around teaching instead of competing with it.

The programme is run with Equitoria Global and covers sectors across the partner network: trading, retail, food, automotive, logistics, media and technology among them.

Why it was set up this way

International students in the UAE deal with a specific set of problems at once. Living costs are high, the job market is competitive, family support is often several time zones away, and a first job usually asks for experience nobody has yet had the chance to get.

A paid internship built into the programme addresses more than one of those at the same time. It puts money in a student's account, it produces a reference from a company with a name people recognise, and it gives the student a working answer to the interview question about what they have actually done.

“Education should never be separate from practical life,” said Dr Nezrin Midhlaj, CEO and Director of TIIB. “If we are shaping the leaders of tomorrow, their needs have to be addressed while they are studying, not afterwards.”

Sidheeq PV, Chairman of Equitoria Global, described the agreements as a route into the corporate ecosystem rather than a line on a CV: “We are giving students a chance to understand how these companies work from the inside, and to become self-sustaining while they study.”

What it means if you are applying

On a two-year diploma the internship is guaranteed and it starts four months after you join. You do not compete for it, and you are not left to find your own placement. Which company you go to depends on your specialism and on what the partner network needs that term.