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Internship Guidelines for Employers
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
Compensation & Credit
- 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
- MassArt encourages paid internships; unpaid internships carry more restrictions for employers. For compliance, please visit the US Department of Labor's criteria for unpaid internships under The Fair Labor Standards Act
- Credit does not count as compensation
- Generally, students may earn academic credit for either a paid or unpaid internship; the Graphic Design department only approves paid internships for credit