The university’s academic internships contribute “toward the balanced development of the total person” and help prepare students to “be capable of meeting personal challenge and change” and “bring strength to others in the tasks of home and family life, social relationships, civic duty, and service to mankind” (BYU Mission Statement). Academic internships are also opportunities for students to engage in experiential learning that “can enhance the quality of inspiring learning at BYU” (“Inspiring Learning,” Worthen, 2016). This policy establishes university requirements for academic internships.

Academic Internship (or Internship) means an Internship Course with an accompanying Internship Experience.

Internship Coordinator means a faculty member or an administrator who is designated by a Sponsoring Unit to coordinate Internship Experiences.

Internship Course means a credit-bearing course offered by a Sponsoring Unit to accompany an Internship Experience.

Internship Experience means a paid or unpaid real-world professional work experience involving the application of a broad base of disciplinary knowledge acquired in a student’s prior academic work (e.g., externships, clerkships, student teaching).

Internship Provider means an organization offering an Internship Experience.

Internship Provider Supervisor means an employee of an Internship Provider who oversees the day-to-day work of the student intern.

Overseeing Unit means a campus unit that oversees the administrative and compliance aspects of Internships [e.g., Experiential Learning and Internships; International Study Programs (ISP); Marriott School of Business on-campus internship program (OCI)].

Sponsoring Unit means a campus unit (e.g., college, department, school, center, office) that offers an Internship Course for an Academic Internship.

Work Hour/Credit Hour Equivalency means the number of hours a student works during an Internship Experience to earn one academic credit hour.

To qualify for academic credit, an Academic Internship meets requirements established by

• a Sponsoring Unit,
• the relevant Overseeing Unit, and
• this policy.

Only the courses and experiences that meet these requirements are eligible for Academic Internship credit.

If an academic program requires an Internship Course, that requirement must be made clear to students in all program listings.

An Internship has two components: an Internship Course and an Internship Experience. Students must complete both to earn academic credit for Internships.

Internship Courses

Each Internship Course must meet requirements related to

• course numbers
• course content
• timing
• work hours

Course Numbers

The academic vice president, or designee, specifies which course numbers are reserved for Internship Courses. See Curriculum Handbook.

Course Content

Sponsoring Units ensure that Internship Course content facilitates meaningful Internship Experiences by teaching students to invite the Holy Spirit to guide them and by providing students with supportive assignments, activities, and assessments.

At the beginning of an Internship Course, the Internship Course instructor must provide students with a course syllabus that includes course learning outcomes, objectives, assignments, and evaluation instruments.

Timing

A student must be enrolled in an Internship Course during or before completing an accompanying Internship Experience. Academic credit cannot be granted

• retroactively for an Internship Experience completed before a student was enrolled in a relevant Internship Course; or
• in advance of a student’s completion of both the Internship Course and the Internship Experience.

A Sponsoring Unit may allow a student to register for an Internship Course in one semester or term and complete the course the next. The student receives a T grade for the Internship Course until all requirements are satisfied. (See Academic Credit, Grades, and Records Policy.)

Work Hours

Sponsoring Units determine the number of academic credits that a student earns by completing an Internship by establishing a Work Hour/Credit Hour Equivalency.

When determining an Internship Course’s Work Hour/Credit Hour Equivalency, Sponsoring Units consider relevant factors such as discipline-specific norms, accreditation standards, and the Credit Hour Policy.

The minimum Work Hour/Credit Hour Equivalency is established for undergraduate Internships by the Undergraduate Curriculum Council and for graduate Internships by the Graduate Curriculum Council. The minimum number of internship hours for each hour of credit earned is 42 hours. Sponsoring Units determine the actual number of experience hours required for each earned credit hour, but required Internship Hours should not be so extensive as to interfere with student wellbeing and other educational pursuits.

Sponsoring Units must publish Work Hour/Credit Hour Equivalencies and apply them consistently. Exceptions to published Work Hour/Credit Hour Equivalencies must not be granted.

Internship Experiences

In addition to enrolling in a qualifying Internship Course (see Internship Courses subsection above), a student must complete an Internship Experience to earn academic credit for an Internship.

All Internship Experiences must

• have clear relevance to the Sponsoring Unit’s academic discipline and the student intern’s academic and career goals;
• involve meaningful responsibilities for the student intern;
• provide opportunities for the student intern to exercise judgment and to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills; and
• satisfy discipline-specific accreditation standards, if any.

When possible, Internship Experiences incorporate high-impact practices, such as

• engagement with people and circumstances that differ from what is familiar;
• expenditure of a significant amount of concentrated effort over time;
• high performance expectations;
• interaction with others on substantive matters;
• mentoring with meaningful feedback;
• opportunities for public demonstration of student intern work;
• opportunities to reflect and integrate learning; and
• real-world opportunities to apply learning.

Internship Experiences must not involve work

• for organizations owned or managed by the student intern, the student intern’s immediate family members (i.e., spouse, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, first cousin, corresponding in-law, or step relation), or another student;
• supervised by the student intern, an immediate family member of the student intern, or another student;
• that requires fees or start-up costs to be paid by the student intern or Sponsoring Unit; or
• that involves any direct, door-to-door, or seasonal sales; fundraising; or lead qualification.

Student Intern Responsibilities

As a representative of the university, each student intern has the responsibility to complete the Internship Experience with integrity and in accordance with the Church Education System Honor Code.

To earn any academic credit for an Internship Experience, a student must complete all Internship Experience requirements.

A student needing to complete an Internship to satisfy a program graduation requirement consults with the Internship Coordinator in the student’s academic unit prior to beginning an Internship to ensure the desired Internship meets graduation requirements.

An international student must consult with the International Student and Scholar Services Office prior to beginning an Internship to determine if the student may complete the desired Internship and remain compliant with visa requirements.

Sponsoring Unit Responsibilities

Sponsoring Units have two responsibilities for students engaged in Internship Experiences: (1) provide the framework for student interns to have quality Internship Experiences and (2) supervise student interns.

These Sponsoring Unit responsibilities are detailed below.

(1) Provide the Framework for Quality Internship Experiences

To facilitate quality Internship Experiences for student interns, a Sponsoring Unit

• designates an Internship Coordinator to coordinate Internship Experiences with students, the Overseeing Unit, and the Internship Provider;
• adopts standards for assessing whether proposed Internship Experiences meet university, any Sponsoring Unit, and any discipline-specific accreditation requirements;

• establishes learning outcomes and behavioral guidelines for student interns, in consultation with the Internship Provider Supervisor; and
• adopts relevant Internship Experience procedures, including for unanticipated Internship Experience terminations.

(2) Supervise Student Interns

A Sponsoring Unit must supervise a student intern during an Internship Experience. To supervise student interns, each Sponsoring Unit designates an Internship Coordinator who monitors student intern progress and resolves student intern or Internship Provider Supervisor concerns. An Internship Coordinator may supervise a student intern remotely if there is regular, substantive, and sufficient communication between the student intern and the Internship Coordinator. Internship Coordinators must not be students.

A Sponsoring Unit ensures that an Internship Provider Supervisor assesses or evaluates a student intern’s Internship Experience performance. A Sponsoring Unit may request from an Internship Provider Supervisor assessments or evaluations of a student intern during an Internship Experience and must request from an Internship Provider Supervisor an assessment or evaluation of a student intern at the end of an Internship Experience.

Overseeing Unit Responsibilities

Each Internship is administered by an Overseeing Unit. An Overseeing Unit is responsible for

• ensuring compliance with university policy;
• coordinating with Sponsoring Units regarding Internships; and
• collecting internship agreements about each internship for which the Internship Provider is not a campus unit (see Internship Provider Supervisor Responsibilities subsection below).

The academic vice president determines the stewardship for each Overseeing Unit. Under the direction of the academic vice president, or designee, each Overseeing Unit makes policies or procedures as necessary.

Internship Provider Responsibilities

An Internship Provider must

• enter into an internship agreement with the university, unless the Internship Provider is a campus unit;
• comply with law;
• provide quality supervision; and
• provide a compliant internship.

These Internship Provider responsibilities are detailed below.

(1) Enter into an Internship Agreement

Each Internship Provider enters into an internship agreement with the university before a student’s Internship Experience begins. It is preferred that Internship Providers enter this agreement by signing one of the following:

• BYU’s Internship Agreement (for domestic Internships that are not sponsored by OCI)
• the OCI Engagement Letter (for Internships that are sponsored by OCI)
• the International Internship Affiliation Memo of Understanding (IMOU) (for international Internships)

Alternatively, an Internship Provider supplies the internship agreement, which may be signed by the Sponsoring Unit after it has been reviewed and approved by the Overseeing Unit before the Internship Experience begins.

These internship agreements are signed and filed with the relevant Overseeing Unit prior to the start of a student’s Internship Experience. A student may begin an Internship Experience if an agreement is in process and there is a reasonable expectation it will be signed.

(2) Comply with Law

A student intern and an Internship Provider must comply with all applicable laws and regulations, including, for domestic internships, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

(3) Provide Quality Supervision

The Internship Provider must assign an experienced professional in the industry to be the Internship Provider Supervisor.

Internship Provider Supervisors provide oversight of and feedback to student interns. The Internship Provider Supervisor makes regular progress reports to the Internship Coordinator. Progress reports include attendance and qualitative assessments of student performance and learning. An Internship Provider Supervisor may remotely supervise a student intern if the Internship Provider Supervisor and the student intern communicate regularly and substantively.

(4) Provide a Compliant Internship

The Internship Provider must meet the requirements of the Sponsoring Unit, the Overseeing Unit, the internship agreement, and this policy at all times during an Internship Experience. If the Internship Provider fails to meet any of these requirements at any time during an Internship Experience, the Sponsoring Unit may terminate the Internship Experience, the relationship with the Internship Provider, and the internship agreement. The university also may take legal action.

Exceptions to this policy must be endorsed by the Sponsoring Unit’s dean and approved by the responsible vice president, in consultation with the Overseeing Unit. Exceptions are rarely granted.