Impact of The Internship Program on the Professional and Personal Development (Special Reference to Art Faculties in Sri Lankan State Universities)

Abstract

The transition from a student to a professional level is not always easy. Because of that, students must adapt to their new work environment by using their conceptual understanding. When students begin their professional careers, they have to face several obstacles (Anjum, 2020). The shortage of professional and personal qualifications is a major one of these obstacles. An internship program aims to help students gain knowledge and skills for their future careers. The UGC (2008) states that internship training probably provides the first opportunity for students to get exposed to a work environment while they are reading for their university degrees. UGC considered it essential training that should be facilitated by universities today. And also, UGC (2018) said that internship training gives students a certain degree of confidence to enter suitable employment after graduation. A majority of art graduates are struggling to find their first job. The UGC shows that through "The Tracer Study of Undergraduates in Sri Lanka-2018", there was a lower employment rate (45.6%) for graduates produced by arts streams. Furthermore, according to UGC statistics (2018), arts stream graduates have a professional qualification rate of less than 50% (23.8%). Most of the research regarding the success of internship programs and unemployment is available, but there is a lack of research on the combination of the concept of internship programs and unemployment. Furthermore, there is a shortage of research on undergraduate internships in developing countries. Therefore, as Sri Lanka is a developing country, it is expected that this research will fill the gap to some extent.