In Architecture Curriculum today, internships are only considered valid if done under an Architecture Firm involved in Construction-related projects. As a result of this stringent system, a large number of Architecture graduates are left unaware and unprepared of a range of other opportunities that can help them expand their skillset, enrich their understanding and give them a stronger sense of clarity for how they can be fruitful members of society.

These opportunities include: Journalism / architectural writing, Photography, Urban Research, Communications, Documentation and many more that are yet to be pioneered in the Indian context.

This petition is to abolish the compulsion of spending the internship period under an architecture firm and opening the possibility to join media houses, furniture/product design firms, film studios, photographers and artists' studios, etc. and have it considered as valid experience by the institute.

Here's why this is the ripe time to make this change:

1. New institutes offering B.Arch are opening every year, but there are not enough experienced Architecture firms to provide a meaningful internship experience. Most of the interns end up working under sub standard architecture firms that neither gives them sufficient exposure nor prepares them to venture into the professional world.
2. Current system does not serve the diversity of personality types that enter Architecture school. Some people just have a natural inclination towards project management or research -  internship under a relevant studio / firm could give them valuable experience and an edge in the field. 
3. In the face of automation, the job market in Architecture is changing rapidly and the future is uncertain. (If you learnt AutoCAD in your school, you are already outdated). The best we can teach is openness to learning and ability to continually re-invent themselves instead of sticking to an ideology that is simply not working.

Please support this petition if you see the self-evident limitations of our Architecture Education system and wish to see more flexible, meaningful and useful internships within the curriculum.