Designing an Effective Training and Internship Model in the University Curriculum from the Perspective of Faculty Members

Abstract

Considering the importance and role of training and internship courses in empowering students and graduates, the present study was conducted with the aim of designing an effective training and internship model in the curriculum. The research method was qualitative and the participants included faculty members of University of Tehran, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Isfahan University of Technology, Shahid Sadoughi University of Yazd, Mazandaran University, Valiasr University of Rafsanjan, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Sirjan University of Technology and Shiraz University, who have presented at least one internship course. Validity and reliability of the interview questions were confirmed by experts. After analyzing 30 interviews, the researchers could have limited themselves to the same number of interviews according to the principle of theoretical saturation, but since the variety of academic fields and universities was considerable, the interviews continued up to 80 people on a quota basis. By analyzing the interviews, the current status of the implementation of these courses showed that, according to faculty members, internships are not implemented effectively and 8 components of time, personal problems, organizational structure and organization, lack of allocation of necessary and sufficient resources, lack of proper understanding of the program by individuals, lack of commitment of individuals and organizations, lack of proper evaluation and monitoring system and lack of inter-organizational and interpersonal communication system were as the main obstacles to effective implementation of these courses. Considering that the main problem in the lack of effective implementation of internship courses is the lack of proper and sufficient coordination and communication between the circles of organizations (Ministries, university and work environments) and the circles of individuals (Faculty members, supervisor of internship center and student) with each other, a model was designed based on which it is appropriate to form minimum interactions between faculty member and student in training and internship courses, and the main emphasis should be on creating communication circles.