Enhancing the Transformative Potential of Business Internships

Business internships involve students, sponsoring firms, and institutions of higher learning. As part of a program to enhance internships, we reviewed the experience of a small number of business interns working in Central Europe. Their experiences were characterized as essentially situation-specific learning, competence training, and affirmation of coursework. Student perceptions suggest prematurely defined boundaries that limit the theoretical advantages of internships. In order to enhance the internship experience, we suggest redesigning, sustaining, and evaluating internships emphasizing transferable learning, discovery of self in work, reflection and process, liminal experiences, and challenging espoused theory. We suggest that such redefined internships may optimize learning opportunities and the growth of human and social capital for all stakeholders, which are of particular benefit in the transforming business contexts of central and southern Europe.