Every undergraduate student at every college and every university should have at least one -- maybe more -- paid internships during their time in school. That's the conclusion of a new report known as the Impact Agenda out today from the Virginia Business Higher Education Council.
Former Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Kirk Cox is president of the council, and he remembers his internship at Harrisonburg High School.
"I was a teacher, a student teacher. And you wouldn't think about allowing someone in the classroom without doing student teaching," Cox notes. "So why wouldn't you give them that kind of first-world experience in the workplace?"
That’s the kind of firsthand experience students get at the Monarch Internship and Co-Op Office Old Dominion University, where Sarah Jane Kirkland works on corporate partnerships.
"For our business and industry partners, it's a way for them to almost test drive the talent before they get there," Kirkland says. "The hope is that the students would participate in a work-based learning opportunity and would be able to learn the culture of the company and opportunities might be in that specific industry that they weren't even aware of."
The plan to make sure every college student has a paid internship program will take a new commitment from the higher ed community in Virginia and members of the General Assembly, who would need to finance as a recurring feature of the budget.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
