An internship, like any other employment opportunity, should operate on the principle of exchange. The student intern gains experience and skills in a particular engineering or computer science area and the organization has the opportunity to complete an important project or set of work tasks. All CECS undergraduate and graduate engineering and computer science students may participate in internships. However, undergraduate students often wait until they have completed the first two years of their engineering program before they apply for internships. International students with some types of visas may participate in internships even if they are not a required part of their program.
Students often ask if they can arrange an internship with their present employer.
Each request must be handled individually. It may be permissible if the internship involves working on a project that is significantly different from their regular job tasks and it contains engineering tasks. For further clarification on this issue, please contact the student's CECS faculty sponsor. There are several key issues surrounding paid internships. According to Oregon State Law, employers can offer paid or unpaid intern positions to students receiving academic internship credit.