Internship programs are the most important part of modern
education. However, it is not a new concept and practice in the education system.
As Henry et al. (1988) documented that academic internship programs were
first implemented in the Accounting Department of the University
of Cineinnati in 1906. Thus, internship as a part of education system was started
a century ago. The basic idea of internship program is to fill the gap between
theory and practice by sending students to the real workplace. This program
need theoretical background before going on internship and again after
internship, students (interns) go through the academic program to synthesize
theory and practice.
Coco (2000) reported that in 1980, only one intern out of 36 graduates
completed internship, while in 2000, out of four graduates three completed
internship. The reasons can be attributed to the increasing importance of
professional degrees and the benefits derived by
these programs. For a program/policy to continue, there is a need to find out the
benefits received from it. Therefore, there have been numerous researches on
internship programs. Cook et al. (2004) studied
a sample of 351 interns from 12 different colleges and universities. The
author found that internship drives positive learning experience for interns as well
as many positive results for university and business. If students perform well
during internship, then university gains credibility in the corporate world and
their relation becomes stronger and closer. Scott (1992) found that students feel
that internships is the best way to examine a particular job by experiencing
day-to-day responsibilities during internship.
Gault et al. (2000) reported that
internships helps business students in finding out
jobs quickly with higher starting salary and higher level of job satisfaction.
According to Clithero and Levenson (1986), the student internship is a "mutually
beneficial experience" for the student, the
business school and the employer. |
