Exploring Student Perspectives on College Internships: Implications for Equitable and Responsive Program Design

Internships are a widely touted co-curricular activity that may enhance students’ employability, their future wages, and employer talent needs. However, how students themselves understand and conceptualize the internship experience is poorly understood. Reasons why understanding students’ perceptions of internships is important include the fact that debates about employability are dominated by employer voices and interests, and that developing student-centered educational experiences require a deep understanding of their conceptions of the learning and developmental process itself. This article highlights how common definitions of internships reflect a homogenous and aspirational perspective that is inconsistent with student accounts. The authors conclude that students’ insights about internships are important to consider to reframe the employability debate to include student interests, to avoid one-size-fits all approaches to internship design, and to facilitate student self-reflection.