Preparing BSIM students for Professional Experience/Internship
Reported by: Dr. Alvin Kwan (Division of Information & Technology Studies),
Faculty of Education
Date: 3rd August, 2008
Reasons for helping BSIM students to prepare for their internship
Most of the BSIM students are in their early 20s and have no full-time work experience.
While some students have some part-time work experiences or internship experience in their former studies. Having said that, the students have little experience in the application process, like writing job application letter and preparing for interview.
Unlike many other internship arrangements of other university programmes, the BSIM programme offers choices to both internship organizations as well as its students. BSIM students are required to submit their applications to organizations that offer internship places. Most internship organizations opt to interview several candidates before making the decision as to who would be recruited. Students are allowed to turn down an internship offer but this implies their subsequent internship application will not be processed until all other students’ applications are dealt with.
Since many organizations which participate in our professional experience module may recruit interns from a number of degree programmes offered by different universities, the BSIM students have to well prepare themselves throughout the internship application process.
Preparation required for the internship
For the last cohort of BSIM students, we had arranged number of seminars and workshops so as to help them understand the nature of the professional experience module, learn about what they may encounter in their internship, sharpen their job application skills so as to improve their chance of being selected by internship organizations. More information about the seminars/workshops is given below.
Briefing on the professional experience module
A briefing on the module was held in early March, 2008. Aims, detailed arrangement, and assessment criteria of the module were introduced by the programme director and the relevant course coordinator. Students who completed their internship in the preceding year were invited to share their experience to the newcomers.
Workshop on internship application skills
A workshop on internship application skills such as application letter, resume and interview preparation was arranged in mid March. Other relevant issues such as dress code for interview, question and answer techniques, and specific interview tips were also covered. The workshop was professionally organized by Centre of Development and Resources for Students.
Briefing on the internship opportunities
As the internships offered by various organizations are quite different, the course coordinator arranged a short session to introduce the nature of internship opportunities to the students in late March before they submitted their choices of preferred organizations to work with in early April. Specific skills required by an internship organization were highlighted in the session.
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