Internship and Co-op Guidelines

Internships and cooperative education link the classroom with the workplace to provide an education with career relevance. The program provides students with direct, hands-on training, preparing them to enter the workforce with experience. Hosting a student intern can be a rewarding experience for all parties involved when the program is created and executed well.

Internships should be related to a student's degree and flexible with their class schedule. Co-ops can be designed for full-time work with a break in a student's course schedule. Contact USI Career Services for more information. Review our Developing an Internship Program guide for specific details.

Employers who hire interns or co-op students reap many benefits including:

• Opportunity to evaluate a potential employee prior to making a long-term commitment
• Quality source of motivated workers
• Enhanced cost-effectiveness of recruitment and training method to cover fluctuating personnel needs
• Enhanced relation with colleges and students
• Benefit from an intern's ingenuity, knowledge of technology, and desire to learn more about real-life work experiences

Developing an Internship Program

Guidelines for Unpaid Internships

What is Experiential Learning?

EARN Indiana (Work Study for Internships)

Early Graduates

Many students now enter college as a sophomore with dual credits earned in high school. Because of this, the year to graduate may be shorter than traditional timelines. Employers should keep this in mind and may want to consider freshmen or sophomores for internships that historically went only to upperclassmen.

Internship Time Frame

Most internships are for a set period of time and are part-time. Usually one semester or summer. It can be extended or renewed upon agreement of the employer and student. Co-ops are set up differently. Most of them are designed for students to work full-time during a semester and take a break from classes. The next semester the student will not work and will only take classes. Followed by another semester of full-time work and then a final semester of classes before graduating. This format can vary greatly depending on the industry and employer. A majority of the experiences available to students are internships, not co-ops.

To participate in or learn more about the program, contact Career Services at 812-464-1865 or email.