Impact of Internship Programmes on the Academic Performance of State University Undergraduates of Sri Lanka: A Qualitative Inquiry

Abstract

The benefits and detriments of Internship Programmes (IPs) had been discussed over past decades by many scholars. Similarly identifying the impact of IPs to the academic performance of the state university undergraduates in Sri Lanka is very important currently. The overall objective of the study is to identify whether there is an impact of IPs to the academic performance of the state university undergraduates in Sri Lanka. The research problem of this study: Whether there is an impact of IPs to the academic performance of the state university undergraduates in Sri Lanka? The data was collected from 20 undergraduates from 3 departments (cases). All three cases have IPs as the part of the degree curriculum. Interviews are the main research method used for data gathering. Both students and lecturers were interviewed. In addition secondary data was collected through University documents. There is an impact of IPs to the academic performance of students. Benefits and detriments were identified as a result of students going to work while being full time undergraduates. Students develop many skills due to the IPs and those skills help them to perform well within the classroom. It was clear that there is an impact of Internship Programmes to the academic performance of the students.

 Keywords: Internship Programmes (IPs), Academic Performance, Time Management