What is an Internship?
An internship is a short-term, hands-on, supervised work experience with a professional organization. It provides the student with an invaluable opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge acquired in the classroom to real world problems and enables the student to broaden their understanding of the field.
An internship is more than a part-time job or volunteer experience; it includes:
- Specific learning objectives designed to increase the student’s knowledge
- Training to hone existing skills and develop additional ones
- Supervision to guide and mentor the intern
Through their internship, the student is able both to expand their horizons and to engage in a meaningful collaboration with their corporate or community organization for their mutual benefit.
Voluntourism
It has been brought to our attention that for-profit “voluntourism” companies have been actively recruiting students. While students are free to take such tours at their own expense, this is not something the University can endorse by providing these firms a platform for selling their tours. Furthermore, these programs often perpetuate negative outcomes and dynamics within the communities they claim to support. Aside from the fact that such tours fall outside of our efforts to ensure a good learning experience for students, the fact that they often generate significant profits by charging our students steep charges is antithetical to the university’s teaching mission and runs the risk of generating a backlash in host countries that will only make it more difficult for us to find quality internships for our students.
Finding an Internship
- Contact your Faculty's internship office and familiarize yourself with the opportunities they offer.