Improving the Internship Experience: Creating a Win-Win for Students, Industry and Faculty: Fid-Bau Portal

Improving the Internship Experience: Creating a Win-Win for Students, Industry and Faculty

Fiori, Christine M. / Pearce, Annie R.

Student internship programs in the construction industry are mutually beneficial relationships that foster student growth, enhance academic program relationships with industry partners, and challenge faculty to include current information in their curriculums. In the construction disciplines, real-world experience is essential to the development of well-prepared graduates and provides students with an opportunity to interact with various levels of construction personnel. The internship program is an integral part of the Building Construction Program at Virginia Tech. Although summer internships are not a mandatory graduation requirement, in 2003 students were presented with the option of applying their internship experience as a for-credit elective class. As part of the class students were required to sign a statement of goals with the company of choice outlining their desired objectives for the nine-week experience. During the internship, students kept a daily diary documenting activities and key benchmarks of their goals. Upon returning to campus in the fall they completed a written report and delivered an oral presentation summarizing the experience. Since 2003, 100% of graduates participated in one summer internship experience and over half enrolled in the credit option. During the summer of 2007, the internship for credit program launched a pilot course that increased student responsibilities during their internship program. Throughout the summer, students were tasked with five assignments that required them to research sustainability practices within their companies. This paper highlights the new program development, defines the revised internship objectives, describes the implementation process and presents the lessons learned.