Skill-Credit Exchange
No stipend budget is not the same as nothing to offer.
If you can offer genuine learning exposure — real work, real responsibility, real feedback — a student can earn academic credit for it instead of a stipend. It is free to list, and it is legitimate because faculty supervise it throughout.
- Free to list
- Faculty supervised
- Credit-bearing for the student
The exchange
You give structured learning. The student earns credit. Nobody is exploited.
- A description of the work, the learning exposure and the skills it develops
- A named supervisor at your business who will actually engage with the student
- Structured deliverables — something specific the student is responsible for
- A mid-point progress rubric and a final evaluation rubric, each around fifteen minutes
- Academic credit hours, where their institution's credit transfer policy allows
- Verified outcome attainment on their profile, visible to every recruiter
- Tier points that move them toward higher access levels
- A supervisor rating and a permanent portfolio entry
Why this is academically legitimate
Four things that separate this from an unpaid internship.
Faculty supervision throughout
A named faculty member at the student's institution oversees the engagement from start to finish — not just signing off at the end.
Rubric-based evaluation
Structured rubrics generated from the outcomes in your listing, completed at mid-point and at completion. Not an ad hoc supervisor opinion.
A logged audit trail
Every credit award is logged against specific outcomes, with the evidence attached, and is auditable by the institution and by an accreditation reviewer.
Institutional oversight
The institution's admin approves the engagement as credit-eligible before the student starts. It is their credit to award, and their decision.
How an engagement runs
Ten steps, most of which happen without you.
You describe the work
The work itself, the learning exposure, and the skills a student would demonstrate doing it.The platform maps it
Your description is mapped to specific learning outcomes and a cognitive level. You confirm.Faculty approve it as credit-eligible
A faculty member at the student's institution reviews and confirms it meets their course's assessment criteria.Students apply and you select
Ranked by capability match. You choose.You assign structured work
With deliverables and dates, from the learning plan template the platform generates.
Mid-point rubric
You complete a short progress rubric. The student submits a reflection. Faculty can flag problems while there is time.Final rubric and reflection
You complete the final evaluation; the student submits their report or deliverable.Faculty review and approve
Or return it with feedback, if the evidence does not support the credit.Credit is posted
The student earns academic credit hours in place of a stipend. Their profile and readiness score update.You earn a contributor point
A verified engagement on your public profile, moving you toward Silver, Gold and Champion status.
Being straight about the limits
This is not a way to get free labour, and it will not work if you treat it as one.
The review team checks the learning is real
For unpaid listings specifically, a person reads your work description and verifies it provides genuine skill development. Data entry with no exposure and no feedback is rejected.
You have to do the rubrics
Two rubrics, around fifteen minutes each. If you do not complete them, the student cannot receive the credit — which is the only thing they are working for. Engagements where this lapses are visible on your contributor score.
Strong students still prefer paid work
Be realistic. Skill-Credit listings attract motivated students who want the exposure and the credit. If you can pay ₹5,000 a month, a paid micro-internship listing will reach a wider pool.
to list. No fee at any point, for either side of the exchange
of your time across the whole engagement — two rubrics, that is it
of each corporate hiring fee funds the MSME Access Fund that cross-subsidises this
How this is funded
Someone pays for it. It just isn't you.
| Funding source | What it subsidises |
|---|---|
| Corporate premium plan revenue | Free and low-cost MSME access across the platform |
| Institution subscriptions | The faculty supervision and credit infrastructure the exchange depends on |
| 5% of every corporate per-hire fee | A dedicated MSME Access Fund, ring-fenced for exactly this |
Udgam’s position is that an MSME in Warangal should not be excluded from structured talent because it cannot match a metro stipend. Cross-subsidy is how that is made true rather than merely stated.
MSMEs are not charity recipients. The exchange is a trade: verified learning exposure for structured talent, with an institution standing behind both sides of it.
Internships
Structured, CO-linked, credit-bearing — not informal and forgotten.
Talent Access
India's verified talent — from Nagpur, Coimbatore, Guwahati, not just IITs.
Viksit Bharat
Every student placed is one more proof that $30 trillion is possible.
MSMEs
Keep exploring
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- Post Projects & InternshipsMatched student talent from ₹500 a listing.Read
- Access University Labs & InfraBook equipment you could never justify owning.Read
- Faculty Consulting MarketplaceHire a PhD for six weeks, not six figures.Read
- New Product Ideation ProgrammeA raw idea in. A working prototype out.Read
Free, always
List what you can genuinely teach someone.
If the work develops real skills, a student will want it — and their institution will credit it.