Stairway to employment? Internships in higher education

Silva, Patrícia Catarina de Sousa e; Lopes, Betina; Costa, Marco; Seabra, Dina; Melo, Ana I.; Brito, Elisabeth; Dias, Gonçalo Paiva

doi:10.1007/s10734-015-9903-9

Cited by 108 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Within the overlapping contexts of demand for computing graduates and relatively high rates of unemployment, work experience is consistently associated with improved employment prospects for computing students and graduates (BIS 2016;Docherty et al 2015;Farenga & Quinlan 2015;Fincher & Finlay 2016;Shadbolt 2016). Silva, Lopes, Costa et al (2016) demonstrated that sandwich courses with internships significantly decreased graduate unemployment, compared to first-cycle degrees without integrated internships. There are many similarities in their study of Portugal with the UK context, including a recognition of contextual influences such as the stratification of Higher Education Institutions and corresponding impact on employability (Jackson 2014;Marginson 2016;Spiegler & Bednarek 2013).…”

Section: Work Experience Employability and Social Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Equality of opportunity for work experience? Computing students at two UK universities “play the game”

Smith

Taylor‐Smith

Bacon

et al. 2019

British Journal of Sociology of Education

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A recent UK Government commissioned study found concerning levels of unemployment among computing students from disadvantaged, black and minority ethnic backgrounds. The study highlighted that work experience was a factor in increased levels of graduate employment. As such, it is vital that students have equal access to such work experience. This study considers the availability of work experience to 140 computing students at two city centre UK universities. Data analysis considered socioeconomic background and ethnicity to determine if these influenced attitudes to work experience. While students' socioeconomic backgrounds and ethnicity had little influence on their interest in work experience, patterns of success in gaining work experience reflected worrying graduate (un)employment patterns, with those from disadvantaged, black or minority ethnic backgrounds less able to secure work experience. These findings have serious implications for university and government policies promoting work experience and highlight the need for national interventions.

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Section: Work Experience Employability and Social Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Equality of opportunity for work experience? Computing students at two UK universities “play the game”

Smith

Taylor‐Smith

Bacon

et al. 2019

British Journal of Sociology of Education

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“…The most common designations are vocational training [7,8], practicum or practical training [9], work placement [10,11], (early) workplace learning [10], as well as apprenticeship, traineeship or internship [12][13][14]. Within this study the term (curricular) internship was adopted, due to the fact that it is the closest word to the common term used in the Portuguese Higher Education scenario-"estágios curriculares" [15][16][17]-the national context of this study.…”

Section: Literature Review: the Solar Side Of Internshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in terms of literature review, we have looked at studies that reported findings related to pedagogical experiences in FCD, which include the possibility of students to contact with real working experiences outside the academia [18], being guided by, at least, two more experienced supervisors, one belonging to a HEI and the other to an employing institution [15,16]. These work experiences are broadly known as "Work Integrated Learning", in short WIL strategies [19][20][21].…”

Section: Literature Review: the Solar Side Of Internshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A growing perception of internships as positional goods for job seeking [30] and job accessing [14,15,30,31] is manifest due to growing youth unemployment problems [24]. As a response, a growing number of HEIs have been using internships as a mean of communicating to students and the wider community their commitment to graduate employment [24,32].…”

Section: Internships Within the Knowledge Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a response, a growing number of HEIs have been using internships as a mean of communicating to students and the wider community their commitment to graduate employment [24,32]. In fact, several studies report that internship experiences tend to constitute a recruitment criterion [12,15,33,34], enhancing the possibility of acquiring references, which may be crucial for future career moves. Each internship placement allows students to integrate a 'professional network', giving him/her the opportunity to 'socialize' with several professionals that may constitute key contacts (in the best scenario, a future 'employer') in the effort of getting a first job [34][35][36].…”

Section: Internships Within the Knowledge Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The ‘Lunar Side’ of the Story: Exploring the Sustainability of Curricular Internships in Higher Education

et al. 2019

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Curricular internships are increasingly seen as an effective strategy capable of contributing to the objectives and targets of the sustainable development paradigm, both in its social, economic and institutional dimensions. This positive outlook is ingrained within the large bulk of existing research, which has been focused on the discussion of positive outputs, such as the enhancement of graduates competences (employability) and their work integration (employment). An important, albeit relatively unexplored, feature of the sustainable institutional politics of curricular internship management pertains to the assessment of its associated liabilities and tensions. This article seeks to address this challenge, by analyzing two interrelated dimensions. First, it seeks to understand the internship processes ranging from the planning to the implementation stages. Second, it elicits the associated negative aspects (the 'lunar side') of internships, allowing for an assessment of the features where there is room for improvement. Empirically, this article draws on in-depth qualitative research. It presents the results of four focus groups, voicing the perceptions of top management structures and students involving first cycle degrees in the areas of Marketing, Management, and Accounting from four public Portuguese Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)-three polytechnics and one university. Findings confirm the general positive outlook of internships. Perceived negative perspectives report to both internal problems (such as the lack of institutional support and curricular design) and external problems (e.g., the shortage of suitable internship placements), constituting barriers towards sustainable institutional policies and strategies. Adaptive strategies to overcome specific difficulties are highlighted (e.g., establishment of advisory committees with local businessmen). Finally, recommendations regarding curricular internship management at HEIs are delineated (e.g., investment in monitoring and evaluation strategies of internships).

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Internships

Nicholas

2018

The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology

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Internships have been defined as official or formal programs used to provide practical experience for a beginner in an occupation or profession. This type of experiential learning is an old tradition, from apprenticeships of the ancient and modern world to internships and practicums for today's students. Internships can have very positive impacts for students. For example, interns who exceeded employers' expectations were offered a 9.2 percent higher salary than other nonintern alumni counterparts.

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Stairway to employment? Internships in higher education

Cited by 108 publications

References 35 publications

Equality of opportunity for work experience? Computing students at two UK universities “play the game”

Equality of opportunity for work experience? Computing students at two UK universities “play the game”

The ‘Lunar Side’ of the Story: Exploring the Sustainability of Curricular Internships in Higher Education

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