Internship FAQ

The College of Arts and Sciences considers an internship a credit-bearing course. You volunteer, work or shadow at a professional placement site within your field of study.

Internships may be performed locally, nationally, or overseas. If you are engaging in, or would like to engage in study abroad, volunteering, shadowing, or work, it may qualify for internship credit if it involves rigorous academic challenge and skill development in a professional setting, and meets the internship course requirements.

Internship courses require that you obtain internship pre-approval, complete required hours at a host site, attend classes or meetings with internship faculty, complete academic assignments, and receive a performance evaluation. The host site supervisor provides orientation, training, and regular monitoring, and completes the performance evaluation.

All undergraduate majors and minors in the College of Arts and Sciences.

An internship immerses you in your chosen field of study from a professional viewpoint, in a real-life setting. It helps you decide upon a field of study; confirms your choice of major through practical application in a professional setting; offers you the knowledge, skills, and technology complementary to your classroom learning; offers opportunities for statewide and global travel; earns you direct contact hours toward graduate school; provides you with a professional network; builds your resume; may result in professional letters of recommendation; and often leads to immediate and future job offers within your field.

Internships typically earn letter grades. Grading varies by department and generally includes your receiving internship pre-approval, attending meetings or classes with the internship coordinator for your department, completing site hours, completing academic assignments, and receiving a satisfactory performance evaluation from your site supervisor.

Internships earn you academic credit toward graduation by either fulfilling a core course requirement or general elective. In addition, you gain significant professional knowledge and skills that are monitored for maximum academic gain. The internship course is nationally recognized through college accreditation and therefore, potential interviewers know that the course has been screened and monitored for maximum academic gain.

You may earn both pay and course credit for an internship, determined by sets of criteria. 
It is the sole discretion of the industry to determine pay. The industry screens the internship position and sometimes your qualifications determine whether or not you would be paid for a specified internship. The industry also agrees whether or not to support the school in having the intern earn course credit. 

It is the sole discretion of the school to determine course credit. The school screens your credentials, learning goals, and the internship position to determine if you may earn credit hours for the specified internship. 

The CAS Internship Office collaborates with UNE faculty and professional staff and with industry partners to create and maintain quality academic internship opportunities. 

Often, graduate schools and professional enterprises recognize accredited internships as more substantive and/or valuable than non-accredited ones because credit-bearing internships have been screened for rigorous academic achievement, skill development, and personal growth under a nationally accredited system. 

Regardless of pay or credit, the benefits you derive from a quality internship, such as industry exposure, professional mentoring, pre-professional training, travel opportunities, and access to professional networks provide knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences that may well inform your future decisions.

Email bccareerservices@une.edu to get started on your application materials (cover letter, resume, interview skills, mock interviews, and more), access available internships posted on UNE Handshake, and begin coordinating your internship.