NABET, NABET 2018 Conference

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Real World Business Experience: Is Your School in The Goldilocks Zone?
Robert John O'Connell

Last modified: 2018-09-23

Abstract


Many business schools tout that they provide students with real-world experience to prepare them for business world entry. Most schools have internship programs that expose students to varying degrees of experience in selected aspects of a business, most likely in a specific discipline at or near the college graduate entry level. Such internship assignments serve a useful purpose of exposing the student to an environment they may enter upon graduation, and sometimes, the experience helps the students adjust their education goals to a specific business discipline. Although these internships typically last a semester and delve in-depth into the position of the internship, the internship may not provide scope across multiple disciplines, and it may not expand vertically into senior leadership of the business. A complement to the typical internship program can be a mentorship program, as presently in use by York College of Pennsylvania. This program does not replace a student’s choice to enter an internship program. Rather, it is a capstone business course that exposes small teams of students to senior and mid-level leaders in a local business. The students analyze their company and the industries within which the business operates, and they also research a specific problem concerning the company. This paper will explain how the course is constructed, managed, and executed, and will delve into the community business demographics that need to be present to build such a program; basically, is the school in the Goldilocks Zone?


Keywords


education