The School of Engineering officially announced the establishment of its Center for Industry Engagement and Internship (IEI), another key component of the School's total learning experience. IEI acts as a bridge between industry and the School of Engineering to promote internship and industry engagement. Internship and career centers are common at universities, but IEI stands out because it is a platform tailored for engineering students as a one-stop shop and training hub. It is also where faculty members and industry advisors proactively collaborate to coach students on career planning and critical skills to be competitive in their job search and beyond.

IEI's key initiatives include joint workshops with J.P. Morgan to inspire students to look beyond technology industries, company visits to Apple, Google and LSI Logic in the Silicon Valley, and nomination of students to industry internship fellowship programs. IEI's proactive support has resulted in HKUST engineering students winning 30% of the total fellowships awarded to local tertiary institutions by Project ETHICS, a Hong Kong-mainland internship scholarship scheme sponsored by the China Development Bank. Furthermore, over 70% of the summer internships offered by J.P. Morgan to HKUST students in 2012 were converted to full-time positions this year, highlighting the importance of internship and school-industry collaboration.

Prof Patrick Yue, Founding Director of the Center for Industry Engagement and Internship (IEI), said, "IEI leverages the School of Engineering's excellent international reputation and the faculty's extensive industrial connections to bring the best opportunities to our students. We believe that early exposure to the professional world will broaden the students' horizons and enrich their university education."

IEI has a Circle of Industry Advisors (CIA) to seek advice and maintain up-to-date on the industry trends and employment needs. It also have a Faculty Board for Internship (FBI) to enable itself to work closely with the different departments and degree programs within SENG in promoting internship related activities such as professional training workshops, recruitment talks, and internship fellowship programs.

To promote internship to our students, IEI has organized an Internship Ambassador Society (IAS). The IAS helps IEI to encourage internship by sharing their internship experience with their fellow students.

IEI recently launched a mobile app called “Mobile IEI”, which is an efficient job search and event announcement app for SENG students to use on their smartphones. It is the communication channel between IEI, companies and SENG students in sharing career & internship related news and announcement. Once log on, students can search jobs quickly by applying a number of custom filters such as industry, location, starting date, etc. Students can even use the app to register for any events organized by IEI. IEI will make use of the mobile app to actively promote job openings and internship opportunities so as to encourage students taking up internship.