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Guidelines for Academic Internships

  • An academic internship requires participation of a sponsoring CoBA faculty member who agrees to oversee the student's activities, maintain contact with the employer, and assign a final grade at the end of the semester in which the internship occurs. This grade may be based on a combination of factors, including, but not limited to, the student's performance as an intern, preparation of a paper detailing his/her experiences and linking them to coursework, and an evaluation of his/her experiences.
  • Sponsoring faculty members will generally be full-time faculty; exceptions require written permission of the Area Coordinator.
  • Prior to enrollment in the course, a course form provided by the Area will be completed and signed by the Internship Coordinator, student, sponsoring faculty member, Area Coordinator, and an academic advisor.
  • The amount and timing of any compensation and the work schedules for the participating student should be specified prior to the commencement of the internship arrangement.
  • The number of credit hours granted for a given internship experience may range from 1 to 3 and is to be determined by the sponsoring faculty member.
  • Total domestic internship credit applied toward the minimum 120 credit hour graduation requirement is limited to 3 hours. (I.e., additional academic internship hours will increase the minimum graduation requirement.)
  • Each Area shall determine whether academic internship credit hours may be counted toward completion of its emphasis area requirements.
  • At the end of the semester, the participating student will provide to the sponsoring faculty member and the Area Coordinator a brief evaluation of the student's internship experience.

Undergraduate internships have minimum prerequisites of a campus GPA of 2.0, emphasis area GPA of 2.5, and 6 hours completed in upper level classes in emphasis area. Each faculty sponsor might expect additional prerequisites as well.

Letter grades will be assigned to any internship that is part of an emphasis area or for graduate credit. Otherwise the discretion of the faculty sponsor shall determine whether or not to grade as pass/fail or with a letter grade.

If a student fails to comply with the sponsoring organization's policies and the internship is terminated, no college credit will be awarded and it may also result in a failing grade for the student.

Any questions concerning these guidelines, please contact Peggy Gilbertson, College of Business Internship Coordinator at 314-516-6117, at pgilb@umsl.edu or in Room 469 SSB.