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Internships

Academic Internships are viewed as an integral part of a student’s academic life at St. Olaf College. An academic internship is a planned, supervised, experiential learning project integrating study and practical work. As a credit bearing experience it allows students to acquire and apply knowledge through direct experience in a field related to their academic program. The academic internship is intended to integrate on-site learning with the knowledge base of a related discipline. Academic integrity is assured through established department/program criteria, faculty supervision, an Academic Internship Learning Plan, and guidance from the Office for Internships.

The following regulations govern academic internships:

1. To assure that a proposed academic internship is credit-worthy, a student must complete a Learning Plan in advance of the internship. A form for a Learning Plan is available from the Office for Internships or on-line at the CEL website.

9. Only proposals for internships bearing a full (1.00) or one-half (0.5) course credit will be considered.

13. (Strike out) No more than three academic internship courses may apply to a St. Olaf degree. No more than three academic internship credits may apply to a St. Olaf degree; the maximum number of internship courses is four.

16. The academic internship experience (on-site work in addition to academic work) must total 160 hours, with a minimum of 120 hours on site for a one credit internship and 100 hours, with a minimum of 80 hours on site for the one-half credit internship.

17. Each department or program sets guidelines for approved experiential learning activities and may therefore choose to offer either full credit or half-credit internships as part of its curriculum.

18. A 0.5 credit academic internship taking during Interim may not count towards the graduation requirement that three full course credits must be earned during three separate Interims.

Rationale:

The proposed change in policy preserves the academic rigor of current practices governing academic internships, while extending the circumstances under which students may pursue internship opportunities. An individual department or program may decide to offer 0.5 credit academic internships, if they are consistent with the goals and structure of the department or program. In recommending that 0.5 credit academic internships be permitted, CEPC considered several things, including:

Many students avoid full credit academic internships in favor of recognition internships, because they can attain the experience without complicating their academic programs with a full credit internship. In such cases the college misses the opportunity to work with students to enhance the internship experience.
0.5 credit internships offer more flexibility and the opportunity to explore more internship experiences.
0.5 credit internships are more feasible for students committed to co-curricular activities.
0.5 credit internships meet certification requirements for many pre-professional programs and will allow students to register at St. Olaf rather than seeking lower-tuition programs at other colleges.
The lower tuition associated with 0.5 credit internships will enhance summer registration for academic internships.
Professional schools and prospective employers increasingly expect academic (credit-bearing) undergraduate internships; it is difficult for many students to include a full credit internship in their academic planning; for other students a 0.5 credit internship actually better meets their needs (e.g., for students seeking job shadowing experiences).