The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development awarded the University of Wisconsin System $1.1 million to provide more paid internships for students in Wisconsin’s higher education through a series of new grants.
The grants will create more opportunities for UW System students to join the Wisconsin workforce and will encourage state employers and businesses to produce more paid internship positions, according to NBC 15.
The UW System was awarded $1.1 million through the Wisconsin Fast Forward Program, an initiative that awards funds to all different types of businesses around Wisconsin to compensate for the cost of providing occupational training for unemployed, underemployed or incumbent workers.
This funding will increase paid internships around Wisconsin and allow students to begin gaining real-life experience that jump-starts their careers before graduating college, UW–Madison Center for Research on College to Workforce Transitions project assistant Kyoungjin Jang-Tucci said.
“There are many studies about how students, through internships, can get more concrete ideas about their own careers,” Jang-Tucci said. “All in all, it’s considered as a high-impact practice for college students because it is a good experiential learning for students to develop their career thoughts, plans and also skills that could be very beneficial for their employment after graduation.”
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These grants will incentivize Wisconsin employers to increase their internship opportunities, specifically in high-demand fields like cybersecurity, agriculture, green energy and clean water. Three universities within the UW System will be directly implementing the new paid internship programs and will provide positions for 122 students in total. These universities include UW–Milwaukee, UW–River Falls and UW–Stout, according to NBC 15.
UW–River Falls received $244,426 to create unique and progressive experiences in agriculture for students. There will be 20 students placed in a 14-week summer internship or a 28-week academic year internship. They will be provided a professional seminar that focuses on career advancement, resume-building workshops and more, according to Fox6 Milwaukee.
UW–Stout received $298,771 to set up a complete cybersecurity internship program that will place 40 students in paid internships with cybersecurity industry partners, according to Fox6 Milwaukee. These student interns will work around 15 hours a week for a minimum of three months.
UW–Milwaukee received $208,624 to create paid internships for 20 students in majors where intern positions are typically unpaid. They will engage in a paid internship for up to nine months depending on the employer’s needs and the student’s schedule. Interns will also take a career course similar to that of UW–River Falls, where they will expand their knowledge in resume-building, interviewing, professional writing and more, according to Fox6 Milwaukee.
UW–Milwaukee also received an additional $382,000 to promote paid internships in the Green Energy and Clean Water industries in Wisconsin. According to Fox6 Milwaukee, they will enroll 42 students in three-month paid internships.
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A big benefit of these grants is that they will allow all students, including low-income students, to have the opportunity to launch their career in a high-quality internship, executive director of the UW-Milwaukee Center for Student Experience and Talent Laurie Marks said.
According to Jang-Tucci, studies have increasingly shown that unpaid internships block students from gaining these skills and learning experiences because many low-income students don’t have the time to work part-time jobs while also participating in internships without compensation.
Because of this, the grants are supposed to elevate this issue and give students the chance to learn while also earning a small income, Jang-Tucci said.
“More and more students need high-quality paid internships,” Marks said. “It really improves post-graduation earnings and employment, especially when students can secure a more coveted opportunity… There’s an investment from the internship site, not just financial, but in terms of human resources, where they’re really committed to nurturing a young person into a career with their company.”
Internships have become a new degree of learning for students, Marks said. It’s crucial that students are not only having meaningful experiences but also that they are learning to network, build their resumes, talk about their experiences in job interviews and more, Marks said. Thus, the inclusion of career development courses in internship programs at universities like UW–River Falls and UW–Milwaukee.
These grants will ultimately allow universities to further support their students, giving them the opportunity to launch their careers.
“We never want students to have to make the choice between taking a job that’s unrelated to their future career but that pays well or an unpaid internship that’s going to help them launch their career,” Marks said. “That’s not a good choice to put a low-income student in the middle of. And as internships become so critical to launching one’s career, universities and funding sources need to work more and more closely to set up programs like this.”
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