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Internship Guidelines for Employers

Orion in Metalshop

Purpose  |  Internship Areas  |  Mentorship  |  Tasks  |  Hours & Duration  |  Semesters  |  Location  |  Equipment  |  Paid Internships  |  Unpaid Internship Policy  |  Credit

Purpose

  • Internships give MassArt students the opportunity to connect art and design skills to related work experience and allow them to explore potential career paths within the Creative Economy
  • Internships must be pre-professional in nature, offer training, and be primarily for educational benefit of the student
  • The interns must be mentored by a professional with expertise in a field they are interested in exploring
  • An internship should offer the intern the opportunity to start building a professional network
  • Internships give employers the opportunity to guide and evaluate talent

Internship Areas

  • As an extension of the MassArt curriculum, internships must be related to one of our art & design academic programs
  • The internship must have clearly defined learning objectives/goals related to the professional goals of the student's academic coursework
  • Faculty review internships to see if they are credit-worthy in their program; they have final approval on academic credit for an internship

Mentorship

  • Interns must be mentored by a professional on staff who has expertise in the area of the internship, similar to a teacher-student relationship but onsite at a business. (Example: A graphic design intern would be mentored by a professional graphic designer on staff)
  • Internship mentors must be able guide, answer questions, and give professional feedback to the intern
  • Mentors will sign the internship terms at the beginning of the internship and then complete a midterm and final evaluation of the intern's progress during the experience. This is done electronically via email/online form- supervisors must be available and able to respond in a timely manner
  • Internship paperwork for academic credit must be submitted in English in order to fulfill the obligations for supervising a MassArt intern.

Tasks

  • The internship tasks and qualifications must be clearly defined at the start of the internship
  • Tasks must be art & design related and pre-professional in nature
  • The skills or knowledge learned must be transferable to other employment settings
  • The internship role cannot be essential to daily operations

Hours & Duration

  • MassArt's intern program is part time and one semester (15 weeks) long
  • Interns must complete a minimum of 135 hours of internship related work within 15 consecutive weeks of a semester
  • The internship must have a defined beginning and end date
  • Typically, during the fall and spring semesters intern typically work 10-20 hours per week. The summer semester offers more flexibility with hours. No more than 40 hours per week is permitted
  • Additional hours/semesters will not be approved for additional academic credit

Semesters

  • Internships follow the semester academic schedule
  • Credit-bearing internships are a single semester long (15 weeks)
  • The semester timeline is as follows: Spring (January-May), Summer (June-August), Fall (September-December)

Location

  • The internship employer must be an established business, organization, or artist with a business location/address.
  • Remote internships for academic credit are permitted through the Summer 2021 semester.

Equipment

  • The company must provide all necessary resources, equipment, software, and workspace
  • Use of MassArt equipment or facilities is not permitted

  • MassArt highly encourages employers to offer internships that are paid at an hourly rate. Compensation attracts a wider pool of competitive applicants and allows more latitude with internship tasks and responsibilities
  • The typical hourly rate for internships is $13-17 per hour
  • Generally, students may earn academic credit for either a paid or unpaid internship; the Graphic Design department only approves paid internships for credit
  • Only internships offering an hourly rate above minimum wage are considered paid; academic credit or a small stipend is not compensation
  • Internships with stipends will not be approved unless the stipend amount breaks down to the hourly minimum wage
  • Students may register either a paid or unpaid internship for academic credit. The college determines if an internship is eligible for credit; final approval on credit is given by the student’s faculty
  • Pay and academic credit are not mutually exclusive. Credit does not count as compensation
  • The student is responsible for registering their internship for credit if they wish to receive it

Unpaid Internship Policy