Practice makes perfect! : developing an internship process in Finnish universities

Abstract

<div lang="en" class="abs"><p class="abs_header">Abstract</p><p>An internship can bridge theoretical knowledge with essential working life skills, improve student’s confidence towards his/her own profession and know-how, and advance further studies and networking [1]. According to several studies, e.g. [2]; [3], an internship period or other comparable work placement period during university studies will enhance students’ career development later.</p><p>Generic working-life skills, for example team working, problem solving and communication skills play an important role in employment after graduation [2]. Substance skills are not adequate if a person cannot adapt them in a working life [4]. Even getting used to regular and target-oriented working will enhance employment in general after graduation [1].</p><p>An internship period is often the first familiarization with the own subject field line of work, and students may think that the internship period is the only way of learning working life skills. However, students do not always recognize the generic skills they have gained during their working life period, and do not realize the usefulness of them. Therefore, generic working life skills should be part of the learning outcomes of internships, as well as the whole university degree [2].</p><p>Internship practices can be very different between universities, and even inside the same university between degree programs [5]. The situation is alike in Finland [6]. Based on these facts, a national group of education developers wrote an internship guide [12] and recommendations for universities, students and employers. In addition, different ways for improving students’ working life skills were developed and piloted. The actions were implemented in the project ‘Bridging the Gap between University Studies and Working Life’ by European Social Fund. This paper discusses the implementation and results gained through two different pilot cases for promoting and implementing internships.</p></div>