Evaluation of Internship Programme of Faculty of Commerce and Management, Eastern University, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Nowadays, universities are earnestly focusing on providing internship training to the undergraduates in order to apply their academic knowledge practically and in gaining the work experience prior to graduation. Despite the growing popularity of internships, surprisingly little research has reported the systematic evaluation of internship programme. Hence, in order to fill this gap this study is carried out with three objectives: first, to explore the employer perception towards interns of Faculty of Commerce and Management, second, to explore the interns perceptions towards employer, and third, to explore the contribution of internship programme in achieving graduate profile of Faculty of Commerce and Management, Eastern University, Sri Lanka. In order to achieve the study objectives, data were collected from 157 final year students in the Faculty of Commerce and Management in the academic year of 2010/2011(2016). In this study, data were collected through internship record book which were given to students at the beginning of the internship. The univariate analysis was used to achieve the study objectives. The results of the study revealed that employers were highly satisfied with intern’s performance during the internship. The results also implied that interns were highly satisfied with the employer who provided the internships to them. In addition, finding of the study suggested that internship highly supports to materialize the graduate profile. Moreover, this study provides some recommendations to further improve the quality of internship. This study is useful to the university, internship organization as well as future interns to improve the quality of internship.