Business Internships: A Practical Framework

The importance of business internships is well established in the literature. This paper extends a more practical framework for business internship success, achieved through student professional development, and facilitated via implementation of a step-wise construct process: (1) self-development, (2) on-campus development, and (3) applied development. Our construct model and process framework were developed and carried out in an iterative manner over time, beginning in 2010, in The College of Business Administration at Texas A&M University – Kingsville. Metrics serving as proxies for business internship success indicate overall program success thus far, as well as trended improvement based on iterative changes made from 2010 to present. We thus contend that the finalized framework and model of student professional development is well positioned to improve business internship programs in a more holistic manner, at both student and institution (e.g. college, organization) levels. Iterations, outcomes, implications and limitations of the program framework are discussed