Internships

Credit–bearing internship programs are managed by academic departments; departmental direction allows programs to meet both student and employer needs.

• Use the department directory to get connected with the appropriate Internship Coordinator.

The Twardowski Career Development Center serves as a clearinghouse of additional internship opportunities. The career center encourages experiential education and actively promotes awareness of all WCU internship, practicum, field experience, student teaching, and clinical experience opportunities.

• Use Handshake to post internships and jobs, participate in career fairs and on-campus interviewing, and access student resumes. The center offers employers a range of services to facilitate connections with students and departments.
• Starting and Maintaining a Quality Internship Program - a useful online resource (not WCU-specific).

West Chester University internship requirements and procedures will vary slightly by department. This general information will give you an overview.

• Interns must be a major in the department through which their internship is coordinated.
• Interns may or may not need to complete departmental courses or obtain specific GPA status before being permitted to work with a company.
• Departments will ask that interns complete a minimum number of units before they permit interns to work with a company.
• Internships managed through WCU are offered for credit whereby a particular number of units link with the number of credits assigned (contact department for details regarding minimum and maximum allowances).
• All departments have an application process for students to complete.

Internships take place concurrently with the spring, summer or fall sessions. Students must sign–up for internships the semester previous to their actual work or before. All students and organizations/employers must complete the application process and be approved before beginning on– or off–campus work.

In order to serve as site host for a student intern, an Affiliation Agreement is typically required. Consult with the appropriate departmental representative.

As an organization offering an internship to a WCU student, it is your role to provide a learning environment and be a resource to the student. Most departments will ask that you provide periodic feedback to the student and to the department to track student learning outcomes and evaluate intern performance. Employers must work with individual department Internship Coordinators to set out a path to follow during the course of the student internship.

West Chester University does not provide nor purchase liability insurance coverage for students serving in an intern program or fieldwork experience. Because many host organizations require that interns have liability or malpractice insurance, students need to personally purchase intern liability insurance when required to do so by the cooperating institution/agency/company.

In addition, the University should NOT be listed as a named insured on the student's personal policy. This is between the student and the host site only. University personnel must be careful not to designate or appear to endorse a particular insurance policy or carrier.

While the University does not (and cannot) purchase malpractice insurance for students, WCU can require internship students to purchase insurance to participate in a certain program or field experience. Each Dean has the ability to review and determine whether the time is right to require students to have malpractice insurance in place for programs or fieldwork within their academic purview.

The Dean, Chairs, and/or faculty should make students aware of the potential liability they may incur while completing an internship or field experience, reiterating that the University does not insure student interns, and the exposure each student may incur if they do not have obtain such liability coverage.

Affiliation Agreement Information