Survey report: the instructional practices of graduate level public administration internship programs

Although there is wide agreement among public administration educators that internships can be educationally valuable learning experiences for students, there is also a growing awareness that internships are not automatically valuable. Because of this awareness, there has been increasing interest in identifying appropriate campus-based activities and assignments to structure internship experiences in educationally relevant ways. In order to contribute to this on-going discussion, a study of the instructional practices of internship programs was undertaken and completed in August, 1988. A survey of 96 internship directors/faculty involved in graduate level internship programs at NASPAA-member schools was part of the study. The survey focused on identifying the number and kinds of campus-based instructional activities being used and on gathering descriptions and evaluations of selected academic components and assignments. The survey results show that public administration internship programs are actively involved in the educational structuring of internships and are using a variety of academic components and learning activities to guide and direct internship experiences.