On-Campus Student Internship Policy

PROCESS FOR ESTABLISHING AN ON-CAMPUS INTERNSHIP:

An on-campus department (also referred to as the hiring department) seeking to create an internship opportunity, must do the following:

• Develop an experience that conforms to the university’s definition and criteria for an internship, ensuring their capacity to take on the training and mentoring responsibilities of hosting an intern.
• Compose a job description including roles, responsibilities, and qualifications. This description must include projects and tasks of a higher caliber than those of the hiring department’s traditional student workers.
• Ensure an adequate amount of student employment hours are available and reserved for an intern (see section on Funding and Compensation below).
• Appoint a Site Supervisor (SS) from the hiring department who will oversee the work of the intern.
• Post the job description on NWU’s Handshake platform to allow all students to an equal opportunity to apply. The hiring department determines the duration of the posting, initiates their hiring procedures, and selects their own student candidate(s).
• Once a candidate is selected for the paid internship, the supervisor will need to follow normal student hiring procedures by contacting the Financial Aid Office. The Financial Aid Office will verify candidate eligibility and initiate the employee authorization process.

Certain on-campus departments may be more aligned than others to provide relevant career experience and transferable skills for a student. Some examples may include (though are not limited to) areas involving human resources, marketing and communications, media, event planning, recruiting, business operations, information technology, athletics, and recreation.

EARNING OF ACADEMIC CREDIT:

A student may complete an internship for credit, or not for credit. Should the student plan to take the internship for academic credit:

• The student’s Faculty Internship Coordinator (FIC) must evaluate the experience to ensure it meets departmental requirements. The FIC has the right to approve or deny the student’s ability to earn credit for the experience.
• The SS is expected to provide feedback and guidance in accordance with academic program expectations.
• The hiring department does not make the decision regarding credit worthiness; that decision is made by the FIC.
• Academic credit is earned for the academic work produced under the FIC (readings, reflection discussions, essays, presentations, etc.). A student cannot be paid for academic work assigned to them as part of their class, but a student is paid for work completed on behalf of the department for which they have been hired. It should be noted that earning credit is not equivalent to receiving compensation; it costs students to earn credits.
• If approved for credit, the FIC works with the student to set learning objectives and then facilitates the academic learning that happens alongside the internship experience.

FUNDING AND COMPENSATION:

It is recognized that the higher-level contributions of a student intern support the work of the university, even more so that a traditional student worker position. Recognizing this contribution, Nebraska Wesleyan University may compensate a qualifying internship. This is in compliance with the Internships Under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Each department has been allocated a set number of student employment hours. If a department would like to offer an internship, they must be able to budget within their current hours. This will result in a reduction of the number of student workers a department can hire, therefore, departments must plan accordingly. Interns are paid the same hourly rate as student workers.  Interns  and student employees are eligible for a maximum of 15 hours of work per week.