Internships provide students with the opportunity to augment the theories/concepts learned throughout their degree and develop competencies and skills through hands-on work experience related to their field of study.
Internships are paid, full-time, one-time, supervised work experiences in which learning is assessed via the student reflecting on their internship experience in the workplace and writing a work term report (best practices dictate that critical reflection about the concrete activity informs the report), which is then reviewed and graded by the faculty supervisor. Internships are generally associated with academic programs that include a practice, service or professionally oriented applications.
Key Features
How do students engage in EE?
Students engage in work activities where they practice the discipline or course specific competencies and skills in an authentic work context.
To what extent are community partners engaged/involved?
The work experience requires some form of learning agreement that is shared by the employer, the faculty supervisor and the student. The student's work progress is monitored by York University and work performance is supervised and evaluated by the partner organization.
Is priority given to student learning outcomes or community partner needs?
Supervised work is structured so that it benefits both student learning and the partner organization.
How long and how frequently do these experiences occur?
Internship work terms typically take place after a student’s third year of study for 4, 8, 12 or 16 months of consecutive work. Students must return to class for their final year of study.
How are students remunerated?
Internships are (generally): zero-credit, optional, one-time work assignments. Students receive a transcript notation - typically a faculty supervisor assigns a pass/fail. Internships are paid work experiences.
Course Example
Faculty of Science: BPHS 3900 0.00, Biophysics, Biophysics Internship Work Term
This experiential education course reflects the work term component of the Technology Internship Program (TIP). Qualified Honours students gain relevant work experience as an integrated complement to their academic studies, reflected in the requirements of a learning agreement and work term report. Students are required to register in this course for each four month work term, with the maximum number of work term courses being four ( i.e. 16 months). Students in this course receive assistance from the YU Experience Hub prior to and during their internship, and are also assigned a Faculty Supervisor/Committee. Enrolment is by permission only.
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