Teaching in Engineering Education

Assessing Internship and Industrial Placement

Please cite as follows: Chan, CKY (2015). "Assessing Internship and Industrial Placement", Engineering Education Enhancement and Research Asia (E3R Asia).

Survey

What is Survey?

Survey is an evaluation that employs the use of rating scales and questions that trigger short, open-ended responses, from both the student’s and the company’s perspectives. It is considered a fairly objective assessment method.

Examples

Example 1: Civil Engineering Industrial Training/Internship Program at the University of Hong Kong

In their CIVL2005 and CIVL2009 courses, The University of Hong Kong (2013) incorporates a performance appraisal form to assess the student’s performance in a 4-week, industrial training/internship program. The performance appraisal form includes rating scales for the company’s perception of student’s knowledge, work quality, initiative, co-operation, reliability, punctuality etc.

Example 2: Co-op & Internship Program at the Pennsylvania State University

The Pennsylvania State University (2009) incorporates mid- and end-of-semester evaluations as a means to ensure that both the students and the company are having alike positive experience with their Co-op & Internship program. Evaluations cover the following:

Students’ level of satisfaction with internship/placement;
Students’ perception of their technical skills used in internship/placement;
Students’ perceived assistance from the company;
Students’ perceived applicability of internship/placement;
Company’s impressions of students’ quality of work and professionalism;
Company’s perception of students’ preparedness for internship/placement;
Company’s views on students’ development as a result of internship/placement;
Company’s overall thoughts about students’ internship/placement.

The University of the West Indies (2013) provides templates of internship evaluation forms, please see references below.

References:

The Pennsylvania State University. (2009). Engineering co-op & internship evaluation data. Retrieved 29 Aug, 2013, from http://www.engr.psu.edu/career/faculty/data.aspx#student
The University of Hong Kong. (2013). Manual on industrial training/internship. Retrieved 29 Aug, 2013, from http://www.civil.hku.hk/civil_intranet/beng/pdf/12-13/Manual_2012%20_3_20130122.pdf
The University of the West Indies. (2013). Student internship evaluation form. Retrieved 29 Aug, 2013, from http://sta.uwi.edu/eng/outreach/form_StudentInternEval.htm
The University of the West Indies. (2013). Employer internship evaluation form. Retrieved 29 Aug, 2013, from http://sta.uwi.edu/eng/outreach/form_EmployerInternEval.htm
The University of the West Indies. (2013). Employer’s intern assessment form. Retrieved 29 Aug, 2013, from http://sta.uwi.edu/eng/outreach/form_EmployerAssesment.htm