Resources for Internship Supervisors

#1 Conditions for Internship Credit

To ensure that an experience—whether it is a traditional internship or one conducted remotely or virtually—is educational, and thus eligible to be considered a legitimate internship by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) definition, all the following criteria must be met: 

1. The experience must be an extension of the classroom: a learning experience that provides for applying the knowledge gained in the classroom. It must not be simply to advance the operations of the employer or be the work that a regular employee would routinely perform.
2. The skills or knowledge learned must be transferable to other employment settings.
3. The experience has a defined beginning and end, and a job description with desired qualifications.
4. There are clearly defined learning objectives/goals related to the professional goals of the student’s academic coursework. 
5. There is supervision by a professional with expertise and educational and/or professional background in the field of the experience.
6. There is routine feedback by the experienced supervisor.  
7. There are resources, equipment, and facilities provided by the host employer that support learning objectives/goals. (Ref. 1)

Reference:

NACE. (n.d.). Position Statement: U.S. Internships. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.naceweb.org/about-us/advocacy/position-statements/position-statement-us-internships/

#2 Promoting an Internship Opportunity to our Majors

If you are offering an Art, Art History or Graphic Design internship that meets all of the conditions outlined in step #1, and you would like to promote the opportunity specifically to art, art history or graphic design majors at UNL, you may complete the webform below to be considered for inclusion on internal communications about internship opportunities. UNL students are also encouraged to check UNL Handshake for internship opportunities.

#3 Internship Memorandum of Understanding

If you have already identified an art, art history or graphic design major for your internship and they are applying for academic credit, they will provide us with your contact information as well as information about their internship opportunity.

As part of our evaluation, we will contact you you to verify the information provided by the student, and we may ask you about your professional experiences in order to evaluate the level of mentorship that the student is likely to receive during the internship.

Once it is determined that the internship is eligible for academic credit, we will create an Internship Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that, once signed, will allow the student to enroll for academic credit.

#4 Final Evaluation

As the internship experience winds down, we will email you with a link to a brief online questionnaire where we ask that you evaluate the intern's performance and provide feedback about the internship experience.