Public
service internships provide students
with work experience to give them a realistic
exposure to an organizational/bureaucratic
environment and the administrative method.
This experience is expected to develop
the student's awareness of the internal
dynamics of a public organization and
of the values and attitudes of public
employees pertaining to both their clientele
and their administrative and political
superiors.
The internship should
provide the students the opportunity
to become aware of their profession and
of the public. Although the intern is
expected to handle real work assignments
and, consequently, be held accountable
for concrete assistance to the employing
agency, it should be remembered by the
agency supervisor that the major reason
for the internship is to provide a learning
experience for the intern. Consequently,
it is expected that employing agencies
will make a systematic effort to expose
interns to a variety of duties and experiences
which will provide them with genuine
on?the?job learning.
Duration
and Timing
For obtaining the full six hours of graduate credit, the internship period
must consist, at a minimum, of 15 weeks of full?time employment or its equivalent.
The internship should be undertaken preferably at the end of the student's
academic program.
Placement
Students may seek their own placement with a public service agency or seek
the assistance of the MPA Program Director to obtain such placement. In either
case, placement must be approved by the Director. Most MPA candidates will
serve their internships under the auspices of the Arkansas Public Administration
Consortium; a joint program of Arkansas State University, University of Arkansas
?? Little Rock and University of Arkansas? Fayetteville. The Consortium (APAC)
will assist the placement of the intern, provide unified liaison and supervision,
will pay the intern's salary from agency funding, and provide for the intern's
performance evaluation. Students whose placement is outside the Consortium's
MPA Intern Program, will be subject to direct supervision by the MPA Program
Director.
Compensation
The placement agency is strongly encouraged to provide a stipend or a salary
to the intern. However, the non?availability of compensation in no way impinges
of the academic validity of the internship experience.
Academic Component
The culminating point of the student's internship is the preparation and submission
for faculty review of the INTERNSHIP REPORT. (Please see following).
Procedural
Matters
The student intern must register for a total of 6 hours of POSC 6600: Internship
in Public Administration.
The student intern
must provide a statement of internship
service on organization letterhead signed
by the intern’s supervisor at the
commencement of the internship experience.
The clinical component
of the student's internship is considered
fulfilled when the student meets the
time duration requirement and when his
agency supervisor provides APAC and the
MPA Director with a completed performance
evaluation form.
The academic component
of the student's internship is considered
fulfilled when the student's INTERNSHIP
REPORT is approved by the MPA faculty.
There is no letter
grade for POSC 6600. It is graded, just
as the Master's thesis, on a PASS or
FAIL basis. The assignment of a "PASS" (normally
by the MPA Director) is based on how
well the student integrated the academic
and clinical components of the internship.
Such a perception is generally influenced
by both the quality of the report that
the student prepares (such as familiarity
with literature used in the MPA program)
and the performance evaluation by the
agency supervisor. The several pages
immediately following contain forms which
apply to the internship assignment. students
placed by the Arkansas Public Administration
Consortium (APAC) will be furnished with
slightly different forms. Instructions
for the Internship Report are the same
for all interns.
Work
Schedule
The work schedule is to be arranged by the intern and the supervisor. It is
expected that the cumulative hours devoted by the intern to his/her assigned
work will be no less than the equivalent of fifteen weeks of full time (40
hours per week) employment (i.e., 600 hours).
Supervision
The supervisor will confer on a regular basis with the intern to give directions
and aid, and review work performed. The supervisor will also make a systematic
effort to expose the intern to the full range of agency operations.
Evaluation
The supervisor, at the end of the student's internship, will prepare an evaluation
of the intern.
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