The College of Business Internship Program: A Comprehensive Analysis of the First 10 Years
Author: Beck, Charles E.
Date: 2016-04-21
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Internship Programs,Business Schools,School Business Relationship,Student Characteristics,Employers,Graduate Students,Masters Programs,Undergraduate Students,Student Evaluation,Majors (Students),Communication Skills,Gender Differences,College Curriculum,Core Curriculum,General Education,Student Attitudes,Self Esteem,Professionalism,Professional Identity,Differences,Supervisors,Case Studies,Business Administration Education,Student Reaction

Internships for academic credit serve as a joint venture between the university and the business communities, helping both groups meet their organizational objectives. Businesses gain qualified, temporary workers with verifiable skills for specific job needs. Administered properly, the academic credit does not merely certify on-the-job training, but ensures that the student has gained an educational experience as well. The first part of this study summarizes the Business College's experience over 10 years: the major course areas of the internships, and preliminary evaluations from business supervisors. The second part analyzes the extensive range of academic majors of the students and the wide variety of types of employers. While all evaluations by employer and student average in the good-to-excellent range, significant differences appear in the data. Employer evaluations reflect the academic position of the student, with MBA students receiving higher evaluations than juniors and seniors. Employer evaluations also reflect different communication skills among accounting, finance, and marketing majors. Employer ratings of students differ by student gender, and student ratings differ by gender of the student and gender of the supervisor. Since internships for academic credit give students the opportunity to apply classroom learning to an actual job setting the third part focuses on two topics students addressed in their final reports: describe how the curriculum at UCCS prepared you (or did not prepare you) for your internship; and describe yourself as a professional. Analysis of the first topic examines the responses according to majors' courses, core business courses, general education topics, and specific topics deemed most significant. It also identifies topics which students thought needed more attention. The analysis of the second topic examines the students' sense of self confidence as they move into professional fields, along with aspects of professionalism which they specifically identified. Further analysis identifies differences in student responses based in the types of industries where students served their internships. A short fourth part of this study considers additional organizational and student categories. Students cited real-world experience of the internship more in companies over 100 employees, but significantly less in small companies. Also the semester in which students completed the internship reveals differences in major course preparation, making a difference on the job, and career confidence. Appended to part 1 of this report are the following: (1) Figure 1: Student Application for Internship; (2) Figure 2: Student Contract for Internship; (3) Figure 3: Employer Application for Internship; (4) Figure 4: Student and Employer Ethics Agreement for Internships; and (5) Figure 5: Sample Internship Final Paper Requirements. Appended to part 4 is: Individual Professors Emphasized in Student Final Papers. [This paper was originally published in the &quot;Global Business &amp; Economics Anthology,&quot; Volume I, March 2012, pp 234-247 and it is reprinted/republished here with permission from its publisher,the Business &amp; Economics Society International, Worcester, MA.]