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Internship Policies

An international internship program combines coursework in a particular academic area with aprofessional work experience. These two strategiesclassroom (or theoretical) training, andprofessional (or practical) experiencecomplement each other. Together, they ground studentsin the reality of daily life in the host culture, and at the same time enable an increased

understanding of international professional culture.

The internship placement is therefore a component of a larger, integrated academic experience,typically a 4-credit course in a 16-credit semester.

The internship itself exhibits these characteristics:

It is academically-directed. The internship is a discrete course, supervised by facultymembers, and carrying significant academic requirements.

Its grades and academic credit are based on explicit requirements detailed in a coursesyllabus.

It is embedded in other coursework completed by the student overseas, either implicitlythrough its thematic relationship to subjects studied during the semester abroad, orexplicitly by means of a seminar or proseminar co-extensive with the internship andwhose explicit subject matter is the internship experience.

It is unpaid and for-credit. The internship placement itself cannot otherwise be conceivedas part of an academic program.

Whenever possible, its language (both in the work place and in the classroom) is thelanguage of the host culture.

Its scheduling is such as to allow the student to carry out projects of significance for hisor her employer while allowing normal contact hours for the accompanying classroom-based courses.

Establishment of Resources & Support

In order to ensure consistent quality in an international, academically-directed internshipprogram, it is critical to establish and maintain sufficient academic and professional resources.

Academic Support:

A regular faculty consisting of locally-sourced instructors should be maintained. Thesefaculty members may teach courses as part of the program, or may be contractedseparately to provide advising, grading, and other academic services to the internship.

The academic products of the internship should be assessed by these qualified facultymembers, including the resident director when that person has the appropriate

qualifications. Since the internship experience, and especially the experience of the academically-

directed internship, are unconventional in many of the countries where we operate,continuity of faculty is fundamental and essential.

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Professional Support:

An internship program of any size requires an ongoing placement effort. Professionalstaff should be hired and dedicated to the internship component of the program.

Professional internship staff should handle everything except the academic component.Their duties include developing placement sources, maintaining a detailed database ofthese, interviewing and actually placing students, maintaining contact with both studentsand employers throughout the placement period, and providing advice, counsel, andpastoral support as necessary throughout the semester.

Professional internship staff must be knowledgeable about and respected throughout the localbusiness community.

Course Assessment

It is impossible to provide a meaningful academic evaluation of an interns actual experience atthe work placement, particularly in a cultural and professional environment that may be very

different from anything the intern has experienced previously. Therefore, the evaluationprovided by the interns work supervisor, while required in every case, will always play asubordinate role in the grading of the internship.

What can be evaluated appropriately in a for-credit context is the academic work carried outunder the direction of the faculty. The exact formula for assessing the performance of eachstudent in the internship will be determined by the resident director in consultation with his orher faculty members.

Assessment should consider factors including:

Written worka formal analytical paper, portfolio, or combination of these. Written work

is the primary academic expectation placed on the student. Participation in internship seminar or other faculty-directed sessions Oral presentation and/or defense of work Internship supervisors evaluation

All assessment is performed by qualified teaching faculty, the resident director, or a qualifiedacademic contracted specifically for this purpose.

Course Syllabus & Handbook

All academic requirements and assessment standards should be spelled out clearly in a coursesyllabus, part of a larger internship handbook. The handbook should cover, in addition to theacademic expectations and requirements of the internship, such items as:

The placement process Suggestions on how to prepare rsums and how to conduct oneself during an interview An introduction to daily work life in the host culture and the behavioral expectations

placed on the student Other scheduling information

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The handbook also presents an additional opportunity to manage some common studentexpectations. For example, the handbook can:

Remind students that the specific location of the placement is not as important as whatthe student does with the internship. Many students come into the process convincedthat the only valuable outcome of the internship is the ability to put a big name on their

rsum. The handbook can remind them that the more pragmatic benefits of theacademically-directed internship are less important than the students ability tointellectualize that experience.

Stress that students be flexible throughout the placement process, that they consider thevalue of working for small or start-up organizations, and that insistence on landing apreconceived best or right internship is a misdirected focus.