On-Campus Internships

Tigers Excel is built on three core pillars, each designed to empower students through experiential learning. Focus area two is to expand and professionalize on-campus internships by establishing a unified effort to ensure students have equitable experiences across campus in a supportive and familiar environment. These internships will reduce barriers for students who may face challenges accessing off-campus opportunities due to transportation, financial limitations, or scheduling conflicts, making hands-on experience more attainable for a broader range of students. On-campus internships provide flexible scheduling and the guidance of experienced campus mentors. In addition, internships will be semester long and offered through a standardized application, where participating campus partners will identify the NACE Competencies that are developed through the internship experience and participate in supervisor onboard training. Additionally, in this process, students will have the opportunity to have direct 1:1 feedback with their supervisor about skill development and career goals and will be required to produce a culminating project by the end of their experience. Once students have completed their internship commitments, students will be rewarded by receiving digital badges that can be added to their LinkedIn profile, resume, or other industry-specific portfolios. Through this experience, students will develop career competencies and technical skills related to their field to enhance their readiness for external roles and post-graduation employment. By contributing to the University community, students will gain practical experience while reinforcing a sense of belonging, easing their transition from academia to the workforce. Ultimately, on-campus internships serve as an inclusive pathway for students to enhance their career readiness and professional skill set.  

Implementation action items to support on-campus internships: 

• Establish an On-Campus Internship Committee to guide the expansion of on-campus internships.
• Establish and professionalize on-campus internship opportunities by:
  • Collaborating with campus departments to identify roles with internship potential, ensuring alignment with best practices.
  • Developing internship roles in partnership with faculty, staff, and departments to align with academic programs and NACE competencies and provide relevant experiential learning experiences.
  • Developing standardized job descriptions that outline duties tied to NACE competencies.
  • Incorporating experiential learning reflections as a part of the internship experience.
  • Creating student incentives to encourage participation in on-campus internships.
  • Providing onboarding and training for both students and campus internship supervisors to ensure role clarity, competency development, and support