What is an internship ?
An internship is a structured, credit-bearing, supervised work experience designed to enrich and complement the academic program. An internship enables you to discover the links between academic study and the application of classroom knowledge to practical work situations. Internships are usually unpaid.
An internship is an approved and supervised work experience that is related to an academic field of study and meets specific learning goals. An internship is different from a regular job because you will have more flexibility to learn about a specific profession/career/industry. Internships may be registered for academic credit. Not all jobs will qualify for internship credit. The experience must be pre-professional in nature and be a learning experience. All academic internship experiences must be evaluated and approved through the Office of Experiential Learning (OEL), or through individual departments for departmental internships. If you have not had your internship approved by OEL (B-4 Thaw Hall), it is not eligible to be registered for ARTSC 1900 Academic Internship (though you may still gain valuable job-related experience from a non-credit internship).
An internship is a “pre-professional” part-time or full time job that you apply for, and interview for, in competition with other people, no different than any other job. Your existing job cannot be a 475/775 Internship, but it can be a University 200 Internship. A 475/775 Internship must be a new job that is designed to give you on-the-job, real world, pre-professional experience in your chosen major: Accounting, Finance, Management, or Marketing. Academically, after you acquire a job, you are registered in Acct 475, Fin 475, Madm 475, or Mkt 475, depending on your major (MBA students are placed in Badm 775). Grades are P (pass) or NC (no credit) depending on the completion of the requirements of the internship.
An internship is a period of training in a private or public institution (e.g. a company, an NGO or a ministry). It is part of an educational programme (e.g. a study programme). An internship before or during the studies can be a good means to apply theoretical knowledge, gained at university, in practice, and to orientate oneself professionally. It may also increase the chances to integrate better into the labour market. However, learning is still the primary purpose of an internship. Since internships are in most European countries not sufficiently regulated, misuse of interns, e.g. as cheap or free employees, is easy and in recent years ever more frequent.
