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Hora, M. T., Chen, Z., Wolfgram, M., Chen, Z., & Rogers, S. (2020). Results from the College Internship Study at Tennessee State University. Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions.
Summary: This report includes findings from the first round of data collection (Spring 2020) at Tennessee State University (TSU) for The College Internship Study, which is a national mixed-methods longitudinal study of internship programs conducted by the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). The findings are based on an interdisciplinary sample of students who took an online survey (n = 252), interviews with students who have and who have not had an internship experience (n = 9), and interviews with career advisors, faculty, and employers (n = 7). We would like to thank TSU for allowing our research team to conduct this study with your students, faculty, and community members, and hope that our findings are useful as you work towards improving internships and work-based learning for your students. As our research moves into its second year, we will focus on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the students, faculty and staff at TSU and employer partners with respect to internships and students’ overall experiences with the pandemic and its impacts on their studies and career goals.
Four research questions guide our study: (1) How many students are participating in internship programs, and does participation vary by student demographics, academic status, or life/employment situation? (2) What barriers exist for students to participate in internship programs? (3) What is the structure and format of internship programs? And, (4) How, if at all, is program structure and format associated with student satisfaction with their internships and their estimation of the value of the internship for their career development? In addition, given the timing of our interviews (Spring 2020), we also were interested in understanding TSU students’ experiences related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
English-language and Workforce Transition Support for Nonnative English-Speaking (NNES) International Students. Speciale, T. (2020). Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions Student Report #3. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Introduction: Over 5.3 million students worldwide are enrolled in universities outside of their home country (UNESCO UIS, 2020). While the majority of these students come from non-English speaking countries, Anglophone countries continue to be their top destinations.
International students are drawn to foreign universities in search of credentials and academic and career opportunities unavailable in their home countries (ITA, 2016). The majority pursue degrees in STEM fields (in particular engineering, math, and computer science), followed closely by Business and Management (IIE, 2019). A prerequisite for admission to an English-speaking institution of higher education is English language proficiency, determined by standardized tests such as the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Continue reading.
Fetter, A & Thompson, M. (2020). Understanding the Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic for Undergraduate Students attending an HBCU: Insights from Student Voices. Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (Research Brief #14). University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
Executive Summary: Limited attention has been paid to the impact of COVID-19 on college students who are attending minority-serving institutions, despite the disproportionate toll COVID-19 has on minoritized communities and the worsening of pre-existing inequity brought about by the pandemic (Kantamneni, 2020; Kimbrough, 2020; Strada, 2020). It is vital to understand experiences with COVID-19 among college students who are attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which serve as primary educational pathways for Black students in the U.S. Themes from our interviews with 41 students attending an HBCU highlight that students are experiencing significant work-related, academic, financial, and socio-emotional challenges related to COVID-19. Stressors and concerns were viewed by students as interrelated and cumulative. In addition, themes from the interviews suggested that student stressors must be viewed within the contexts of the higher education institution, student life experiences and circumstances, and their positionality within large structural systems. Given the far-ranging and ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on higher education, this Research Brief concludes with recommendations to advocate for and support students.
Hora, M., Forbes, J., & Preston, D. (2020). What do we know about internships at HBCUs? A review of the literature and agenda for future research. Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (Research Brief #13). University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
Abstract: Internships and other high-impact practices (HIPs) that feature experiential learning are being increasingly promoted at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) as a way to support students’ career and academic success. In this paper we review the literature on what is known about HIPs and internships at HBCUs and how students’ racial identities have influenced interns’ experiences and outcomes. Our analysis finds little empirical research on internships at HBCUs and a general lack of in-depth and critical analysis on the ways that racial identity and the unique institutional cultures of HBCUs impact internships and Black student experiences. We then review contextual forces salient to Black interns’ experiences such as pervasive workplace discrimination, and theoretical frameworks that could inform future research on the ways that race, culture, institutional features and local “field effects” interact to shape student experiences and professional development. We conclude by outlining a research agenda for studying internships that foregrounds issues of racial justice, adopts elements of Bourdieu’s relational sociology, and investigates how the unique cultures of HBCUs influence how internships are designed, implemented and experienced.