Internships are widely recognized within higher education as a useful work-based learning (WBL) approach to enhance student employability. However, there remains a need to understand whether internships provide a developmental experience that includes higher-level (soft) skills such as self-responsibility, flexibility and innovation. Our study…

The article explores how international students in China are engaging with employability-related programmes to enhance their employment outcomes in their home countries, underpinned by the Graduate Capital Model (GCM). Thirty international students in China participated in in-depth interviews. Findings revealed that international students studying…

Collaborative drawing is a multimodal approach to examining problems within small groups of individuals when the perspectives of multiple stakeholders should be considered. Collaborative drawing can be useful for helping students visualize and analyze a challenging problem from different world views and provide opportunities to confront, discuss,…

Despite the adaptive strengths and unique problem-solving skills demonstrated by neurodivergent (ND) individuals, they remain marginalized in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. High unemployment rates among individuals with disabilities emphasize the need for addressing barriers to entry and persistence in the…

We surveyed 60 undergraduates who were enrolled in a capstone course at a large research university on the west coast to explore the impacts of required internships on college student mental health. Levels of flourishing, positive emotions, negative emotions, and overall affect balance were measured in relation to each student's internship…

The study explored the experiences of undergraduate students during a semester-long, leadership development internship course offered at a large research university in the southern United States. The researchers employed qualitative content analysis to examine sixty-five student internship portfolios and identify the leadership capabilities that…

This study examined the results of a post-internship survey and a follow-up survey and interviews with 11 undergraduate students from the University of California in Davis, who worked as volunteers in a ten-week unpaid internship in Japan to examine their perceptions of the challenges and gains of working abroad. The results of the post-internship…

Internships are a widely touted co-curricular activity that may enhance students' employability, their future wages, and employer talent needs. However, how students themselves understand and conceptualize the internship experience is poorly understood. Reasons why understanding students' perceptions of internships is important include the fact…

Internships for college students are widely promoted as a "high-impact" practice, yet the academic literature is limited by terminological imprecision, lack of data on intern demographics, and insufficient attention to the impacts of program format on student academic and developmental outcomes. In this mixed-methods study we analyze…

This study examined a novel mentoring model, "near-peer mentorship," that supports the development of mentee and mentor, incorporates established principles of mentoring, and offers unique opportunities to integrate research and teaching in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) internship. Using qualitative methods,…

This study is an outcomes assessment of an experiential learning program for undergraduate students interested in life and health sciences careers enrolled at a public urban research institution. The year-long research and professional experience internships were projected to improve learning outcomes in undergraduates. The study included an…

The near-peer mentor model provides undergraduates and recent post-baccalaureates in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields with an internship in two related disciplines, STEM research and STEM education. The near-peer mentor is both a mentored research intern and a mentor to pre-college students. During the 2013…

Colleges and universities across the United States seek new, creative, and impactful ways to enhance student engagement. The study of student engagement has led to the identification of several "high-impact" educational practices that appear to generate higher levels of student performance, learning, and development than the traditional…

Twenty-three undergraduate social work students from Eastern Michigan University completed a seven-week internship in a geriatric unit at a Mexico City hospital. Analyzes stages that students went through as they began to realize the importance of cultural context and to understand cultural differences in human behavior and service provision.…