1. PERCEPTIONS OF SATISFACTION-DISSATISFACTION IN THE INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE.
- Author
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McCaffery, Jerry L.
- Subjects
PUBLIC administration ,INTERNS ,INTERNSHIP programs ,CIVIL service ,UNIVERSITIES & colleges ,COMPLEX organizations ,SATISFACTION - Abstract
Public administration has made a major commitment to mid-curriculum internships. At least part of the rationale for that commitment is that the internship is considered an investment in the future, a way of reducing the front-end costs of learning the labyrinthine byways of complex organizations. That commitment is not inexpensive. A rough calculation of the direct cost of last summer's intern group at Indiana University cost the University, the interns, and the host agencies roughly $110,000 to support 55 interns. Applying estimated national enrollment figures, if the average direct cost of an internship is $2000 per intern, and if even half of the 20,000 students enrolled in M.P.A. degrees take an internship, then total direct cost could be somewhere around $20,000,000. Rather than focus on the monetary benefit of an internship, the question this paper attempts to explore is "what makes an internship satisfactory or unsatisfactory to the intern himself?" Certainly direct benefits may occur to an agency, to the student, and to the school itself. For example, the host organization may get a sophisticated project done at low cost.
- Published
- 1979
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