Business and Accounting Students’ Perceptions on Industrial Internship Program

Abstract

Internship programme is one of the methods which will expose students a chance to gain a deeper understanding of the knowledge that they have learned in the classrooms through actual works experience in the industry. Normally, before a student graduates, he/she has to undergo this industrial internship programme. The objective of this study is to examine business and accounting students’ opinions on industrial internship programme by using a survey instruments which consists of 18 statements. The statements were grouped into four dimensions: Career; Knowledge and Practical Experience; Soft Skills; and Monetary and Non Monetary Incentives. The survey was conducted by using four point-likert scale and distributed to 33 business and 51 accounting students at University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia. The results indicate that both business and accounting students emphasise on Career as the most important dimension. Next of importance are Soft Skills, Knowledge and Practical Experience, and Monetary and Non Monetary Incentives. The results also indicate that both business and accounting students have similar opinions regarding industrial internship programme.