Assessment in internship – experiences of accountancy degree programme – university of Kelaniya

Abstract

Internship has become an important component in accounting degree pragrammes in universities over the past decades. Academics and researchers believe that internship provides smooth transition of undergraduates from oncampus environment to the working environment (Muhamad et al 2009). Further, practitioners in accounting profession have identified that internship experience benefits not only to improve the quality of the degree programme and the skills of the students but also benefits to the employing entity during and after the internship (Beard 2006). Hence, interaction and evaluations among students, faculty and practitioners during and after the internship is invaluable in measuring outcome of the internship programme. Department of Accountancy (DoA), University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka has introduced internship to the accounting degree curriculum in 1998. DoA believes that the objective of introducing the internship component to Accounting programme is to facilitate students to gain practical exposure from the dynamic business environment, and to enhance teamwork sprit and the employability. To achieve these objectives multiple assessment activities have been introduced in par with the International Accounting Bench Marks designed by Universities and professional institutions, and those activities have been increasingly changed to strengthening the programme. The objective of this paper presents the multiple assessment activities created by DoA in internship pragramme since 1998 to maintain the quality of the accounting degree programme. The assessment activities presented in this article are useful for other accounting pragrammes for improving quality and for accreditation of their degree programmes.