I believe an academic internship is a very valuable element in any "applied" degree,

I believe an academic internship is a very valuable element in any "applied" degree,

As a former chair, I very much believe an academic internship in an applied program is very important.

I agree with Ashley and Steve, an internship is a very valuable part of an academic experience.

If the student aims to be a teachers or are on the fence among different disciplines, practical experience in teaching is essential.

Dennis Dennis Mazur

In the case of business, scientific research, like entities, if practical experience in industry is essential to determine what the students wants for a career:

1. teaching as a career,

2. research as a career in

2.1 academia

2.2 government

2.3 private industry

If such experience is not available to the student, it is sad but definitely survivable for the student.

Dennis

Dennis Mazur

Internship is required in some colleges.

Internships aid students in acquiring working experience as well as workable skills and traits. It prepares them for the surprises and real field practicality in the world of work!

I think the existing answers are quite comprehensive, but I want to reiterate that the benefits of internship will be obtained if it connected to a very clear intended learning outcomes and make sure it fulfilled.

Hi!

This question puzzles me. If it is an applied education, why should an internship be not important? It is a little like asking if bachelors are married.

There is too big gap anyway between universities and working life and this creates transition problems for those who do not pursue careers within the university world (which usually are almost all). We should rather ask if interships should be required also of non-applied academic programmes, just to help bridge the gap better.

Not towards employment in my view, but rather, towards general application whether as an employee or an independent operator

The aim of internship should not be primarily 'employment experience' but better be experience of the demands and requirements by 'life after college' which should be open to any need that may come your way. Focus towards employment keeps most of the graduates on the waiting list for jobs when their studies should have equipped them to be independent and develop somethin on their own

I think it’s very important. For example in the UK if you want to gain a PGCE Post Graduate Certificate in Education, essential for becoming a secondary school teacher, you have to carry out a number of placements in schools.

This I believe is beneficial in two ways. 1. It gives the Student real world teaching experience in a real School and insight into the job. 2. By having this real insight they can develop skills associated with dealing with difficult situations, people skills, also about the maturity of different aged students In Schools.

Overall it gives them a taster, to see if this really is the job for them.

Dear Leisa,

Like the previous answers, my reponse is also: Yes, academic programs that have an "applied" focus toward employment and/or a profession shoulf require students to complete an internship. In my country, this happens, for example, if one wants to be a teacher, a lawyer, a physician, and so forth. Actually, in most, if not all professions, people learn by doing, in general under a supervisor. Books teach us many things, but practice is indispensable to get a certain job and play a certain profession. For example, you are not a taxi-driver or a surgeon only by reading books.

Best wishes,

Orlando

In my own field of teacher education in higher education, I have seen the most fruitful use of student internships as authentic examples of "current" classroom teaching in which to bring to my students' attention. That is, the student can't fall back only on memories of having been a student in schools or of drawing on cultural resources/artistic visions of schools and teaching/learning when we consider in our coursework the context(s) of teaching and learning, the goals, the process of teaching of teaching of disciplines (specifically, science in my case), and the career world of science classroom teaching (including a major focus on the teacher). It is very helpful, too, when my students are provided opportunities to enact the roles and take on the responsibilities of the classroom teacher in such placements instead of only being a critical observer. Based on those immediate and real experiences with teaching and learning of science (and now engineering in my Next Generation Science Standards state) in school placements, it offers opportunity to bring to life the potential of higher education to share with my students the "life of the mind" and its products (i.e., scholarship) that their academic program in a higher education uniquely is able to do. Enriching their reactions and reflections on their internship experiences by application of a rich consideration of ideas and suggestions/options developed over a long period of time and considerable effort by scholars in the field is essential in preparing my students to become professional teachers who find worth in the scholarship of teaching and learning and become examples to their students of lifelong learners who can identify, pose, seek and apply answers to problems that arise in their lives. Without the internships my students take along with their academic coursework, I believe their teacher education program could not achieve such a desired result.

Thanks for posing this RG question, and to everyone's participation in the discussion!

I would like to thank everyone for such great responses. Thank you so very much. Leisa

Internships are valuable. In the criminal justice program that I teach in at my university we used them heavily. Employers hire their interns. Having said that, I do not think that internships should be mandatory for several reasons. The first is that the number of available internships (especially in the more desirable agencies) are limited. If you required an internship to graduate you could delay a student's graduation because of lack of ability. The second reason is that in the United States, you have students who are adults and already working in the field that are pursuing a degree to advance their promotional opportunities or to further their education. To require this type of student to take an internship to get a job in a field that they are already in seems redundant and may even be prohibited by the governmental agency that they currently work for. The last reason that internships should not be required is that some students are adults that are working their way through college. To require that a working student participate in an often unpaid internship could mean that their family does not eat or pay rent that month. My university is a very blue collar university with a lot of first generation and minority college students. We try to maximize the opportunities for all of our students to graduate and to gain meaningful employment. But we also try and remove obstacles that would deter students from graduating or even choosing to come to our university.

HI Folks,

Absolutely! However, I think it should be a substantial internship. I've worked for one university where an "internship" consisted of giving students three semester hours of credit for working on campus. The administration didn't seem to favor sending students away for an immersed work experience.

Have a great day!

--Adrian

For applied courses such as Engineering, Management and Medicine etc it is important to have internship.

During internship, students will have an opportunity to explore application of concepts learnt during regular classes.

Like Engineering` and Management students can have internship in industry and medicine stidents in Hospitals.

This will help in employability of the students.

I have served in institutions with programs that did not require an internship experience. In my opinion, it places the student at a disadvantage.

Internship (or practical or industrial training) is a must and very valuable event in any "applied" academic and professional degree course.