Internship Program Overview & Guidelines

Our program attracts an average of 150-200 juniors and seniors each quarter from a variety of disciplines, including accounting, business, communication, computer science, and engineering. Internships offer a convenient way to pre-recruit future employees and expand your work force at critical periods to support your business objectives.

UCSB actively supports students in their efforts to integrate their educational objectives with a part-time or summer internship experience in business and industry. There are no formal Cooperative Education Programs at this time. Currently this program option is offered on a case by case basis in certain physical and life science disciplines typically in conjunction with federal government agencies and national laboratories.

UCSB interns work an average of 10-15 hours per week for a minimum of one quarter (10 weeks), or up to 40 hours per week in the summer months. Most interns are paid an hourly wage or a stipend. Approximately 30% of our students seek academic credit options through their respective academic departments if available. An optional certificate is also possible for completing a minimum of 100 hours, a Learning Agreement, and a Final Exit Evaluation. (see Forms)

Determine how an intern can best serve you. You will then need to enter your internship description(s) via our web page at least a month before you wish to interview our students. See instructions under Tri-County and Regional Posting.

In offering internships at UCSB, we assume your organization (department) agrees to the following:

• Balance the amount of clerical work ( i.e., no more than 50% data entry/filing) with pre-professional tasks and projects that enrich the intern's knowledge by orienting him or her to the particular occupational field; work setting and conditions relating to the industry in general.

• Offer periodic consultations of training and feedback regarding intern's progress. (See Forms)
  Provide the intern with appropriate office space; computer; phone; and resources to carry out responsibilities in a professional manner. (We understand some interns conduct independent research on-campus in some instances.)

• Fill out a brief written evaluation of the intern's performance and discuss with the intern before departure. (See Forms.) Providing Letters of Recommendation is appropriate.

• Contact the Internship Program Coordinator, Deb Artz, at 893-4412 should a problem arise so that it may be resolved beneficially.

• Abide by the nondiscrimination policy of the University of California in accordance with applicable Federal and State law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, medical condition, ancestry, marital status, citizenship, sexual orientation, or status as a Vietnam-era veteran or special disabled veteran.

• Abide by the University of California's policy against sexual harassment that follows Federal and State Laws. In short, every effort will be made to insure a professional work environment that fosters mutual respect between interns, coworkers and supervisors.