Assessing the impact of work internships on career development among university students in Hong Kong

Abstract

Existing studies on internship effectiveness in enhancing career development are scarce and yielded inconclusive results. Employing a pretest-posttest design, this study examines systematically the impact of internship experience on various aspects of career development. The longitudinal sample consisted of 94 second year and third year university students who participated in overseas internships lasted for 1-2 months in a university in Hong Kong. Pretest was conducted prior to internships and posttest upon completion. Results showed that participation in an internship significantly increased students’ career exploration, career decidedness, vocational identity and self-perceived employability. Moreover, science and engineering majors showed significantly higher increase in self-perceived employability as compared to social science students. Limitations of the study, as well as its implications for research and practice are also discussed.