An internship is a career-relevant work experience obtained by students prior to graduation from an academic program. The goal of this experience is the application of academic learning in an employment situation. The internship program generally involves advanced undergraduate students or graduate students working in professional settings under the supervision and monitoring of practicing professionals. Objectives and practices will vary from program to program. 

This page will give you general information on Paid vs. Unpaid, Academic Regulations, Legal Issues for Employers, Promoting Your Internship Program, and Student Expectations.

Paid vs. Unpaid (Volunteer) Internships

With paid internships, pay varies with a student’s major.  It typically ranges between one-half and one-third of a regular, entry-level employee’s salary.

With unpaid internships the following applies:

The work performed by the intern is directly related to his or her educational course work

 The intern will receive course credit for his or her work or is required to complete the work in order to graduate.

 The intern must prepare a report of his work experience and submit it to a faculty supervisor.

 A letter or other written documentation from the intern’s school confirming that the internship has been approved as educationally relevant.

 Learning objectives are clearly identified.

 The intern should spend no more than 50 percent of his or her time performing work that is also done by regular employees.

Academic Regulations

Internships can be with and without credit; normally the credit counts toward graduation requirements. If students choose the credit option they must be registered and pay student fees. The credited internships must be coordinated with academic advisors so the experience can be measured as a structured outcome (i.e.-research paper, presentation, etc.). Student advisors must be actively involved in the process so the student can receive credit.

International Students

International students can participate in off-campus internships. Permission must first be obtained through the Office of International Students and Scholars.

Legal Issues for Employers

Liability

Employers should check their states’ workers’ compensation law to see if it has been interpreted to include interns and co-op students as "covered employees." If an intern/co-op is deemed to be an employee under workers’ compensation law, the company is responsible for paying his or her medical benefits and wages. It is recommended that companies cover interns under worker’s compensation insurance even when they may not be required by state law to do so.




Safety

In certain work environments, it is paramount that the employer explains the company’s safety policy and records in the student worker’s record that the procedures have been reviewed. Companies that generally have good safety records do not see an increase in safety problems from the presence of students at a work site.




Termination and Learning agreements

In most companies, student workers are at-will employees who can be terminated for poor performance or other reasons during the course of their assignment. The employer needs to tell the student why it is terminating him/her and notify the school. It is up to the school to decide, based on whatever agreement it may have with its students, whether it will assign the student to another company.




Harassment

Employers are liable if a student worker experiences harassment while on the job. Employers should review their companies’ guidelines for appropriate workplace behavior and complaint procedures with interns and co-op students. Remind regular employees that company guidelines apply to students and that the company expects them to treat students appropriately.

 

Promoting Your Internship Program

 If your experiential education program is in its infancy and has not had an opportunity to build its reputation among students, it is important that you promote your program to students. In many instances, you can promote co-op and intern opportunities along with permanent employment opportunities.

 First, determine in which academic majors will have students with the proper course work, interests, and career goals that coordinate with your company’s co-op or intern assignments.

 According to the American Council on Education’s (ACE) 1996 Campus Trends Report, 90 percent of colleges support unpaid internships and 69 percent support paid internships for their students, while 57 percent of schools offer co-op programs.

 To learn about MSU’s internship program, contact the designated program internship coordinator on campus. Explain to the coordinator what opportunities you can offer a student at your company and what your employment needs are.

 To build your organization’s name among students and broaden your pool of applicants, try some traditional college relation activities. Attend job fairs. Establish relationships with student professional organizations. Interview on campus and bring a co-op supervisor with you. After initially screening and selecting students, invite them to your work site for secondary interviews and facility tours.

 To protect all parties, a learning agreement should be developed for the student, school, and employer. Agreements should include the following information and assurances:

 

A  job description, including learning objectives

The specified work period (quarter, semester, or trimester)

 A statement by the school and employer that the student’s work experience will be monitored

 A statement by the school that the student is enrolled or registered during periods of co-op employment (if applicable)

 Information about opportunities for evaluations by the student, school, and employer

 Information about remuneration, if necessary, for the work performed

 

Student Expectations

 Attracting interns to your internship program may be a time-consuming, but rewarding task. A recent study revealed that many students today who have been involved in internships held multiple assignments at different companies. Students don’t really have unrealistic expectations for the work they will do during internships. Students want challenging, meaningful work assignments that allow them to leave internships feeling that the company has benefited by their having worked there.

 Students select internships based on job content and training opportunities. They are more like to accept an internship offer based on perceived access to training opportunities. They take little time in responding to an internship offer.

 It is important for employers to recognize how important their selection of interns is. Too many companies find interns in their backyard and don’t use the same sources that they would ordinarily use for full-time employees. The Best Practices Survey on Internship Programs Quality & Effectiveness reported that there are five factors that companies must do to influence interns to join the sponsoring organization full-time following graduation:

 

• Provide assignments that are of value to the sponsoring company 
• Structure assignments to provide a lot of variety in responsibilities
• Assign mentors
• Give interns a chance to learn about other parts of the company
• Tell students what they will be working on in advance of the internship

 

The factors most significantly impacting the likelihood students will accept employment offers are: their manager/supervisor; job challenge; their mentor; and whether their work added value to the sponsoring organization.

 A significant gap in many internship programs concerns the lack of leveraging the resource. Most interns want and expect companies to provide them with an opportunity to be considered for employment elsewhere in the organization. To the degree that companies can "broker" former interns across functions, divisions, and locations, the likelihood of hiring former interns is strengthened—and return on program investment improves.

Please contact us at 517.355.9510 or at  hallren1@csp.msu.edu with any questions.