“Go overseas on a business trip with me and I’ll give you twice your internship allowance. But don’t inform your school, ok?”
That’s what the director of a local tech firm offered a student from National University of Singapore (NUS) during her internship at the company.
Sensing something amiss, the student informed her school anyway. NUS eventually made a police report and blacklisted the tech firm from its internship portal.
But this only happened some 2 years after complaints against the firm first emerged.
However, it is unclear if those complaints related to inappropriate behaviour or unfair work practices.
Students were also definitely aware of unverified sexual allegations against the director for at least a year. These were made by a previous intern with the company, who had also warned others not to join the firm.
It is unclear if NUS faculty were aware of these serious allegations – but it appears that they were not, since the firm was only taken off its internship portal in May this year.
The director’s latest inappropriate actions seemed to have started when he interviewed the student. The interview was carried out over Skype in March.
He reportedly set it up in a way that allowed him to see the student but not the other way around. It was during this call that he made the alleged remarks.
The girl eventually terminated her internship with the firm.
NUS was unable to confirm many of its students have interned at the firm before. Its spokesperson told The New Paper,
We are unable to provide the total number of students who may have interned at this company as NUS students are free to source for their own internships without registering the information with their faculties and schools.
The director denied the allegations to TNP. He claims that he has not been contacted by any of the schools with regards to the incident and that he intends to confront them.
News of the University’s decision broke on Monday (Jul 23). It sparked similar actions from 3 other schools:
Meanwhile, the Singapore Management University (SMU) is currently reviewing the firm. Both SMU and NTU have had at least one student intern at the firm, but their internships went on without incident.
Featured image from National University of Singapore.
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