ABSTRACT
In previous chapters, we examined the academic and internship host site responsibilities regarding internships. In many ways, those issues touched upon the subject of internship preparation, particularly the material that concerned academic responsibilities. But in each of those previous chapters, the viewpoint was from a perspective other than that of students. In the first case, an underlying issue of academic responsibilities has to do with accountability of educational institutions. For some years now, institutions of higher learning have grappled with an increased focus on outcomes assessment. We believe that properly designed andmanaged internships, especially those that serve as the capstone graduation requirement in a curriculum, provide excellent support for defending a program’s outcomes by clearly demonstrating a student’s grasp of academic material combined with a requisite knowledge and utility to put what they have learned into practice within a discipline of the student’s choosing. In the second case, an underlying issue with regard to hosting internships is a concern for having the experience be productive not only for students but for the host sites as well. Developing strategies to assure this will also help ensure that relationships between academic institutions and their host internships remain healthy for a long time.
