Internships

The following requirements apply to all students who wish to participate in ITU’s internship program:

• Admission/Enrollment – Students must be admitted to one of ITU’s graduate programs and enrolled in a full course load of nine credit hours per trimester. (Note: See exception below for Annual Vacation or Last Term of Study).
• INT 593 series enrollment – Students must enroll in INT 593 in order to have an internship. This course may be part of the student’s 9 credit hour full time course load. Internships will not be approved as any other course at ITU, including independent study or special study courses. To continue an existing internship, students must enroll in INT 593 and follow the procedures listed here for each new trimester.
• Tuition/Fees – Students will not be allowed to apply for or begin an internship until all past and current tuition and fees have been paid in full. Click here for information about paying tuition and fees.
• GPA – Students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 and passing grades in INT 593
• Internship relevance – Students must show that the requested internship is relevant to their field of study and that the internship provider has extended a formal offer that is consistent with the procedure below.
• Internship providers – Students may not have more than one internship provider at a time.

All internships at ITU require enrollment in INT 593. This academic class is taken for one credit hour with part-time internships (up to 20 hours per week) or three credit hours with full-time internships (21 to 40 hours per week). In order to earn a passing grade, students must directly submit assignments listed below to their faculty member, and include: clear identification of their name, university ID number, the graduate program, the internship title, the internship provider’s name, and the internship supervisor’s name. Assignments may include:

• Description of internship – A presentation of the unique duties and responsibilities the student will perform during the internship. (Note: The internship cannot be a substitution for a paid staff position or a vacant position at the internship provider’s organization).
• Mid-term internship report – An initial report by the student on his/her performance and progress in the internship, as well as specific information about the skills and knowledge being acquired relevant to the student’s field of study.. (Note: Such reports must first be cleared by the internship provider to observe appropriate confidentiality and intellectual property constraints).
• Final internship report – A comprehensive report on topics covered in the mid-term report and supplemented by the student’s evaluation of relevance of the internship to the student’s academic program, career goals, and potential areas for future study and research beyond the internship.
• Final evaluation form – Submitted directly to the faculty member by the internship provider during the last two weeks of the trimester with the signatures of the internship supervisor and an HR representative of the organization providing the internship.

To ensure compliance with ITU’s policies, the following conditions apply to all students attending ITU:

• First time internships – Internships for the first time with ITU will be limited to a part-time internship. An exception will be allowed for students who can demonstrate a prior successful internship or training experience related to a degree they earned in the U.S. Evidence of such an experience may include an academic transcript showing a passing grade in an internship course, a report from the institution’s internship program showing satisfactory performance, and/or a letter of recommendation from an employer or other evidence that the student was authorized to work for during a period of Optional Practical Training.
• Continuous enrollment/attendance – If a student drops below full-time enrollment (Note: See exception below for F-1 Annual Vacation), or the internship provider otherwise ends the agreement, the student will not be permitted to continue with the internship.
• Start/End dates – As mentioned above, internships are approved only in conjunction with enrollment in INT 593. For this reason, internships cannot begin sooner than the trimester start date and must end by the trimester end date. No part of the internship may take place during break periods between trimesters.
• Grade Point Average (GPA) requirements – Students must maintain a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA in their program at ITU to remain eligible for an internship. Once official grades have been posted for the prior trimester, any student who holds a cumulative GPA below 3.0 will lose all internship eligibility (both full-time and part-time), including eligibility for the trimester in progress.
• Students who maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher once final grades have been posted and have earned a term GPA below 3.0 will only be eligible to request a part-time internship.
• Students who have an incomplete grade and wish to apply for an internship must submit all outstanding work by the deadline to apply for internship. The final grade must be posted prior to the start of the internship. GPA requirements will apply.
• Students who have an incomplete grade and who do not submit completed outstanding coursework by the end of the subsequent academic term, will not be eligible to apply for a part-time or full-time internship, regardless of their cumulative GPA. (Refer to Incomplete grade policy.)
• Students whose term GPA for the most recent trimester is 3.0 or higher, but cumulative GPA remains below 3.0, will not be eligible for internship.

Note: coursework taken at another institution will not be considered in determining eligibility for an internship in an ITU program.

• Academic performance requirements (INT 593) – A student who receives a grade of “NP” (no pass) in INT 593F will be reduced to part-time internship the next term. If a second grade of “NP” (no pass) is received in INT 593, the internship will be cancelled and the student will be ineligible for future internships at ITU. A student who receives a grade of “NP” (no pass) in INT 593P will not be able to participate in internship the next term. A “NP” grade counts as attempted credits.
• Maximum internship credit hours – Students are limited to a maximum ten credit hours allowed (pre-Fall 2020 admitted students), a nine credit hours allowed (for students starting Fall 2020 to Spring 2021), and a maximum of 3 trimesters, whether full-time or part-time, over an entire academic program (for students admitted starting Summer 2021 or later) for INT 593. For each part-time internship (up to 20 hours per week), one credit of INT 593 will be used. For each full-time internship (21 to 40 hours per week), three credits of INT 593 will be used. This limit applies to both new and continuing students. A change in programs or interruption of studies will not reset this limit.
• Change of internship provider –ITU recognizes that unforeseen circumstances (laid off, reduction of staff, relocating, etc.) may require the change of an internship provider. Finding a better opportunity is not considered an unforeseen circumstance. Please email a termination letter to internship@itu.edu.  To allow completion of INT 593, students will be allowed to change their internship provider once per trimester if criteria is met. However, after a second internship request has been submitted in the same trimester, no further changes will be permitted.  All Change of Internship Provider Requests must be dated at least 1 week before starte date of new internship and must have prior approval before starting.

A student may not request a change of internship authorization level (i.e. part-time to full-time/full-time to part-time) during the trimester in progress unless the request is the result of an adjustment of eligibility based on GPA and is submitted completely on or before the add/drop deadline.

Students may not change an internship provider after Friday (5:00pm) of the eighth week of the trimester.

To read the additional conditions for International Students click here.