A Case Study Exploration of Internships in Undergraduate Business Education

A single case study was used to examine internships at an (AACSB) accredited business school located at a Research 1 university in the southeastern United States. Internships are the dominant form of experiential learning used within the college under study and the “preferred method of business schools worldwide to give students practical experience and help them transition to the real world” (Kosnik, Tingle, Blanton, 2013, p. 616). The Grant University College of Business, pseudonym selected for this case, supports an internship and career services office that oversees nine internship courses representing six departments within the college. At minimum, each department is responsible for outlining their individual internship guidelines and requirements. The staff within the internship & career services office are primarily responsible for enforcing those guidelines, administering course content, and working with employers to promote meaningful internship experiences. The dean, associate dean for undergraduate programs, six administrators, six employers, and five students participated in this study. After three months of interviews, a focus group, and document reviews, data were analyzed to determine participant perception of internships and also to gain insight into future recommendations. This study was significant because it sought to address a gap in the literature on internships in undergraduate business education and to provide additional evidence that internships contribute to success in career, curriculum, and relationship development as evidenced by the in-depth analysis of a single case