Internship Basics

A field experience or internship course is a way to gain practical, hands-on work experience in a professional setting. To be considered for academic credit, the internship or field experience must be educational in nature, such as learning the professional culture of the workplace, gaining specific skills, and gaining or applying knowledge.

Each internship or field experience entails two supervisors: a faculty member from the department the credit will be awarded in (for example, a business faculty member for a business internship) and a work supervisor. Students make arrangements with a faculty member to fill out an internship or field experience registration form, which includes a course description, learning goals and an appropriate evaluation or final project. The work supervisor oversees the onsite activities and confirms at the end of the semester that the student completed the number of required hours and agreed upon work duties.

An experience is considered an internship if it is meets all of the departmental requirements of an internship, is a new learning experience, and will benefit the student more than the work site. Students should register for a field experience if the work is applying skills and knowledge already learned or if the work is an academic experience that does meet a department's definition of an internship.