Internships are an outstanding way to provide students with work experience in a chosen field. It’s a way to gain on-the-job experience in a short-term, mentored, learning environment.

An internship may be paid or unpaid, and may last:

  • One semester
  • One summer
  • A length of time agreed upon by the student, employer and school

Internships are primarily single, planned educational experiences for students. As such, participants may receive academic credit for their internship work in agreement with and under the supervision of an Adelphi University department faculty member. To get started, review the internship standards, then begin your application through Handshake.

Information for International Students

Please make sure you submit all the required documents to the office of International Student Services at least one week prior to the start date of employment.

Internship Standards

These standards not only operate as an expanded definition, but also as the minimum requirements for experiential learning at Adelphi. These standards must be met for any experiential learning that Adelphi certifies, gives credit for, or provides acknowledgement of. These standards constitute a further detailed development and refinement of the Internship Standards adopted by the Senate in December 2008 and replace them.

All parties must establish and be clear about why experience and in particular why this experience is chosen to facilitate the learning that is to take place. These intentions are deeper than the goals, objectives and activities that define the learning experience. These intentions should guide the development of the goals, objectives and activities of the particular experiential learning situation. These intentions must be kept in mind throughout the entire process of learning and evaluation.

All participants must have sufficient background and preparation to undertake the experience. Goals, objectives and activities of the experiential learning activity must be identified and defined before the experience is undertaken. A plan including the intention (see standard 1), goals, objectives and activities must be formed. All parties should repeatedly refer to this document. The plan must be flexible enough to allow for adaptations throughout the learning experience, but not so flexible that the plan is meaningless and useless.

The experience must have a “real world” context or be carried out in an applied setting. Necessarily, there must be interaction between the student and others outside their normal educational classroom setting. All those involved should play a role in the design of the experiential learning situation to ensure it satisfies the academic and any “real world” requirements.

Reflection is the element that transforms a simple experience into a learning and transformative experience. The reflection must include the testing of assumptions, preconceptions and hypotheses that the student brings to the situation (or learns as part of the situation); these include personal views and theoretical/conceptual knowledge. The learner must also analyze the experiential learning experience for decisions made, actions taken and the results/outcomes of these decisions and actions. Future implications, where relevant, should be included in the reflection. The reflective process is integral to all phases of experiential learning (including the development of intention) and should be applied accordingly.

All parties to the experiential learning should be prepared. This includes the preparation set out in standard 2 and ensuring that each party has relevant background information about the other parties and the context and environment of experiential learning. Ongoing structured development opportunities should be included to expand the learner’s appreciation of the context and develop the skill/knowledge requirements of experiential learning.

For the term of the experiential learning experience, all parties must make a concerted effort to ensure the learning experience continues to provide the richest learning possible, while affirming the learner. This means that changes that occur in the situation should be worked through to pull out relevant learning opportunities. As well, experiential learning should be monitored to ensure that, even when the situation does not change, the student is obtaining the richest learning possible. While reflection provides for transformation of the student, a feedback loop that ties learning intentions, quality objectives and the experience itself should be set up. These processes will provide the basis of standard

Learning processes and outcomes should be systematically documented with regard to quality outcomes and initial intentions, goals, and objectives. Assessment (in terms of the individual experiential learning case) should ensure the highest level of student learning. Evaluation of the overall form of experiential learning should be done regularly, in a timely fashion, and this evaluation should be the basis of any appropriate change in the form of experiential learning. Different forms of experiential learning are, for example, internships, field trips, executive positions on clubs, community work.

Recognition of the learning and the impact of that learning that occurs throughout the experience are to be carried out. This is done through reflection, the processes that monitor the particular experiential learning, reporting, documentation and sharing of accomplishments. All parties to the experience should be included in the recognition of progress and accomplishment. Culminating documentation and celebration of learning and impact help provide closure and sustainability to the experience.

There must be an Adelphi University faculty/staff member designated to oversee and facilitate each experiential learning endeavor. This person need not be the same person for each instance of experiential learning. This person must take the lead to ensure that the standards are adhered to for that particular experiential learning.

Terms of Use: The Center for Career and Professional Development at Adelphi University acts only as an information service. The office does not endorse any individual employer and cautions you to ask appropriate questions to be sure that the position is right for you. The center makes no recommendations or guarantees about the positions or employers listed through our office or about those who visit campus to meet students or alumni. Students and/or alumni are responsible for verifying the credentials and integrity of the employer. Adelphi’s Center for Career and Professional Development is not responsible for safety, wages, working conditions or other aspects of off-campus employment. Jobs and internships posted on Handshake may not be reviewed before posting. Site users are urged to validate job postings and use caution and common sense when applying. Do not disclose security numbers, credit card information or bank account numbers to unknown employers. This website also contains links to other websites that are not under control of the University or the Center for Career and Professional Development. The University and the Center for Career and Professional Development are not responsible for any error or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. Site users who discover any misuse or abuse of this service are encouraged to report the matter as soon as possible.
The Center for Career and Professional Development does not guarantee a student or alumnus will obtain an internship or job opportunity.
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