Student Internships to Finalize Mid-Level Learning Cycle

Abstract

Several studies suggest that student internships are an essential training component and key to the proper achieve- ment of graduation profiles (Trede & McEwen, 2016). This has become more relevant in recent years due to the ten- dency of higher education institutions to incorporate a competency-based approach to undergraduate training, within the framework of curricular innovation processes. Likewise, it is verified the existence of different modalities and degree of structuring in the development and follow-up of these training activities, being in the areas of health and pedagogies, where the practical activities show a high participation in the training itinerary and, therefore, the way to carry them out acquires a higher level of structure and complexity in contrast to areas such as engineering, legal sci

ences, business, where there are multiple opportunities for improvement to strengthen and enhance these activities and generate greater value for each one of the actors involved. In this context, this work has the purpose of designing systematic follow-up and control processes for student internships in the careers of the business area of the Univer- sidad Católica del Norte. The results obtained show the need for the internship processes to become an object of per- manent and systematic study in higher education institutions, accounting for a change of perspective that recognizes the significance that the process has for each of the actors involved.