The value and importance of internships: A path to improved productivity

In previous columns, I have mentioned the Kalama Sutra of the Lord Buddha. In that sutra, he explains his thinking about how we learn and know. In addition to his urging us to think critically and be skeptical, he emphasises the importance of learning through direct experience. Thus, he was promoting experiential education millennia before John Dewey and Jean Piaget.

The late Julius Nyerere, former visionary leader of Tanzania, emphasised “learning by doing.” Today Tanzania is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Dr John Hennessy, president of Stanford University, in writing about usefulness education defines experiential education as “merging ways of thinking with ways of doing.” Internships are one important type of experiential education.

There are basically three kinds of internships: 1) those that are paid well or at normal rates, 2) those that are paid but at relatively low levels, and 3) those that are volunteer with no salary. Any of these three types may also possibly include room and board. Frequently, NGOs or not-for-profit organisations may not have adequate funds to pay interns or pay them well.

The individual student who is able to pursue an internship can expect many benefits: 

1) Valuable learning can occur during the internship, especially if students are placed with a talented and caring mentor and given challenging tasks.

2) Interns can make valuable professional contacts and connections.

3) They may have the opportunity to meet and work with people different from themselves (e.g., a Thai teaching in a predominantly Hmong school in Phetchabun). This can enhance their intercultural competence.

4) Internships may lead to employment opportunities, particularly valuable in a tight labour market. A survey in the US by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found that 68 per cent of interns are later offered regular positions with the organisations in which they are interning.

5) It helps to build attractive resumes.

6) Students have the opportunity to test their interests in a possible career field.

For colleges and schools including internships as part of their curricula, it is important that they require students to reflect critically and creatively on their experiences in writing and not give academic credit for simply having work experience.

There are important productivity benefits for both schools/colleges and those organisations providing the internships. 

In recent decades, costs in education at all levels have been rapidly accelerating. Princeton economist William Baumol argues that the reason for this is the education sector, compared to others, is not increasing its productivity (“Baumol’s Disease”). 

When students have internships they are learning from their mentors and their internship setting and no paid teacher is necessary. Thus, they are learning at minimal cost to their educational institution. Schools are not expected to pay supervisors of interns for their mentoring. That is a “free service” in exchange for the contribution of the intern to the organisation where they are serving. 

Internships are normally considered an independent study type of course. Unfortunately and inappropriately (given productivity implications), college and universities often strictly limit the number of independent studies credits that can be taken. Such valuable learning opportunities should be encouraged rather than restricted.

Interns also enhance the productivity of the organisation where they serve, particularly when they are talented, but serve as volunteers or are paid below market rates.

In Thailand, the late Dr PueyUngphakorn, while dean of the Faculty of Economics at Thammasat University, had the vision to create the Graduate Volunteer Programme, which has enabled many students to gain valuable work experience in remote rural areas of Thailand and develop a deeper understanding of local development problems and issues. 

In the United States, while dean of freshman men at Stanford University, Dwight Clark had the vision to create Volunteers in Asia to provide students with opportunities to work and live in various parts of Asia such as Hong Kong, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia and China. Many alumni of that programme have been highly successful. Recently while in Laos, I met several Princeton in Asia volunteers who seemed to be having valuable experiences there.

Apprentices at the Apprentice School in Virginia receive in their last year an annual salary of $54,000 and are guaranteed a job with Huntington Ingalls Industry. Recently Stanford University has opened up a new pilot Stanford in New York City (SiNY) programme to enable students to live, work and learn in this dynamic financial centre.

Alex Deitz, writing in the June issue of Oregon Quarterly, describes her summer internship with the Oregon Innocence Project as truly transformative. Dr Robert Bruininks, who served as the able president of the University of Minnesota from 2002-2011, attributes much of his leadership success to a valuable internship he had at Vanderbilt University where as a young graduate student he had the opportunity to manage a major research project.

In my own case as an undergraduate I was fortunate to have had five invaluable internships, two in Berlin, one in Washington, DC (special programme of President Kennedy), and two on campus. The two internships in Berlin involved full immersion in the German language. In the Washington internship I assisted Herman P Miller, a prominent economist, with a major book, Rich Man, Poor Man, on serious income distribution problems in the US. My two unpaid internships on campus helped me improve my weak writing and oral communication skills.

To enhance both the quality of education and productivity, much greater priority must be given to making internships an integral part of every student’s undergraduate experience.

 

Gerald W Fry 

Distinguished International Professor 

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, University of Minnesota

[email protected]