Internships
An internship is an experiential learning opportunity for students to either explore a field of interest or to expand and/or apply accumulated knowledge from an academic field of study in a work environment. Students may earn college credit for internships in a 200- or 400-level course(s). An exploratory internship is a 200-level course available to all matriculated students. An advanced 400-level internship is available to juniors and seniors with at least 60 or more credits earned. The 400-level internship presupposes a student has accumulated a background of knowledge in an applicable discipline. One academic credit is awarded for every 50 hours of applicable work experience. A student may earn a maximum of six internship credits, 200- and 400-level credits combined, and no more than three credits at the 200-level. Multiple internships may be completed as variable credits, one to three credits for the 200-level internship and one to six for the 400-level internship.
The duration of an internship is normally one semester or summer. Internships are limited to a maximum of 15 hours per week and 3 credit hours per semester for a full-time student taking at least 12 credit hours. Summer internships may be 40 hours per week when the student is not taking courses simultaneously. Credits are applied to the semester during which the internship occurs, and the per-credit fee associated with those credits will be charged to the student.
Students must have approval from the academic department which correlates to their internship. Because the 200-level internship is exploratory in nature, the department need not correspond to a student’s major. However, the 400-level internship must be approved by a student’s major academic department. Internships are conducted under the guidance of the student’s academic advisor (400-level) or other faculty as designated by the applicable department chair (200-level). Internships are arranged through Career Services unless required by their major and thus arranged by specific academic departments. Internships must be approved before a student can begin the work experience for credit. The GPA requirement for 400-level internships is determined by the major but is no lower than a 2.5 GPA. See the course description by department for details.
In addition to Internships required by academic major and those pursued for Elective credit, Franciscan University has partnered with Parker Dewey, a company that offers Micro-Internships. Micro-Internships are shorter in duration than typical internships; usually accessed remotely; and always paid positions. These short-term projects range from five hours to 40 hours and may last from between one week and one month. Students may pursue Micro-Internships on their own at Franciscan’s Parker Dewey platform but these are typically unavailable for academic credit.
Students interested in an internship should talk with their academic advisor(s) and the Career Services Office.