Earn Credit for an Internship

We provide academic credit for quality internship experiences* in virtually any field. Your internship can be paid or unpaid, and it must take place in the US. We accept remote, in person, and hybrid internship experiences for ITR credit.

*Definition of a Quality Internship: Internship must provide the student with a quality learning experience. This could include, but is not limited to projects, direct work with clients, observations (but cannot be exclusively observational), participation in events and meetings, research, trainings, and other professional development opportunities. It is understood that administrative work (e.g. filing, data entry) is a regular part of the workplace. However, administrative tasks should be no more than 30% of the internship responsibilities.

To be eligible for ITR credit, you must have completed at least 60 credits toward your URI degree (including transfer credits) and have a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA. You must also be in good academic and social standing at the University.

The ITR program is open to most majors at URI, but students in the following majors may not be eligible for ITR credit and should contact their Academic Advisor or Career Education Specialist to discuss options:

• Business (all majors)
• Kinesiology
• Nursing
• Pharmacy
• Education
• Engineering (all majors)

Students seeking academic credit for an internship through ITR are required to enroll in two courses: ITR 302 & ITR 304. You must take both ITR 302 and ITR 304 in the same semester you are completing your internship.

ITR 304 (3 credits) is an asynchronous online seminar that you take at the same time you are working at the internship. The purpose of ITR 304 is to help you process what you learn at your internship and understand how this experience will help you be successful in the next stage of your career. Each week you’ll complete an interactive lesson in Brightspace. Some of the assignments and lessons you’ll complete include:

• Setting professional development goals for your internship
• How to present an internship on your resume
• Practicing talking about your internship experience in an interview

ITR 302 (3-12 credits) is your field experience credit (the hours you’re working at your internship). The number of credits you can earn for ITR 302 range from 3 to 12, based on the number of hours you complete in your internship.

ITR is one of several credit-bearing internship courses offered at URI. Your academic department or degree granting college may have other options, which you can learn about here.

If your major requires an internship to graduate, check with your Academic Advisor or Career Education Specialist to confirm whether ITR will fulfill that requirement.

Students pay traditional tuition rates for ITR classes during the Fall and Spring semesters, just like any other courses taken at URI. Full time students (12-19 credits) pay a flat tuition rate based on regional status. Part time students (1-11 credits) pay per credit. Students cannot exceed the university maximum of 19 credits in a semester without an approved credit override. For current URI tuition rates, please see the Tuition and Fees section of the Enrollment Services website.

In the Summer semester, students pay tuition per credit for all URI courses, including ITR 302 and 304. As a benefit of enrolling in the ITR program, all students regardless of residency or internship location pay in state tuition rates for their ITR credits. The current rates for summer tuition are listed on the URI Summer Sessions website. This reduced rate for out of state students only applies to summer ITR courses.

There are no additional course fees for ITR credit.

All internships in the ITR program are reviewed by Career Education Specialists and considered on a case by case basis. General guidelines include:

Quality Learning Activities: Internship must provide the student with a quality learning experience. This could include, but is not limited to projects, direct work with clients, observations (but cannot be exclusively observational), participation in events and meetings, research, trainings, and other professional development opportunities.

Limited Administrative Work: It is understood that administrative work (e.g. filing, data entry) is a regular part of the workplace. However, administrative tasks should be no more than 30% of the internship responsibilities.

Supervision: The intern must be supervised by a professional employed by the internship organization. The supervisor must have expertise in the intern’s responsibilities or provide access to that expertise (eg. through education or mentorship).

Work Environment: Internships may be in person, remote, or hybrid. In person internships must be in a safe working environment.

Compensation: Internships may be paid or unpaid. Quality volunteer experiences may also be accepted for ITR credit.

If your intern’s Career Education Specialist has concerns about the internship position, they may contact you to discuss the structure or responsibilities of the internship.

The supervisor must be a professional employed by the internship organization. They must have expertise in the intern’s responsibiltiies or provide access to that expertise (eg. through education or mentorship).

There is no specific degree or years of experience requirement for ITR supervisors.

The supervisor may not be a family member or significant other* of the student.

*A family member includes: parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts/uncles, cousins. A significant other includes: partner, wife/husband, spouse, fiance, girlfriend/boyfriend.

The internship supervisor must agree to the following:

Complete three online forms, which will be emailed to them by the intern or a representative of the Center for Career & Experiential Education:

• Internship Description Form: completed prior to the start of the semester; confirms intern’s job details and responsibilities
• Midterm Evaluation: completed around week 5-6 of the internship; reviews intern’s performance in the first half of of the semester
• Final Evaluation: completed at the end of the internship; reviews intern’s overall performance and confirms completion of internship hours

Meet regularly with the intern (weekly meetings preferred). Meetings may be in person, phone, or video.

In the event of an extended absence, the supervisor will provide a backup supervisor for the intern.

The instructor of the student’s internship class will reach out to you in the first few weeks of the semester to introduce themself. If at any point during the semester you are displeased with the intern’s performance or have a concern about their work or their wellbeing, please contact their ITR instructor.

If you are unsure how to find your student’s ITR instructor, you may also contact the Center for Career & Experiential Education at ccee@uri.edu or call (401) 874-4320.

The ITR Internship Program does not accept internships where the student is interning for their family’s own business. Also, any internship where the student’s family member or significant other* ranks above the student or the student’s supervisor will not be accepted, as this presents a conflict of interest.

However, you may intern at a large organization where a family member or significant other works, if the family member works in a separate department and does not rank above the student’s supervisor (e.g. you intern in the marketing department, while your family member works in quality control).

*A family member includes: parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts/uncles, cousins. A significant other includes: partner, spouse, wife/husband, fiance, girlfriend/boyfriend.

All students are strongly encouraged to find an internship within their career field of interest. Ideally, this will be a new opportunity that allows them to expand their network and explore the world of work in a new environment.

However, taking on a new internship on top of an existing job may not be possible for all students, including those who work full time or are financially supporting themselves and/or others. In some cases, students may be eligible to use a new or existing full time or part time job for internship credit. The position must be approved by a Career Education Specialist and the following criteria must be met:

• The position must already be a quality learning experience*
• You must be supervised by a professional in the organization
• Your supervisor must be amenable to completing the 3 required internship forms: Internship Description Form, Midterm Evaluation, Final Evaluation
• Strongly encouraged: If the position is not new to you, you should have an additional project, task, opportunity or learning experience added to your regular/existing responsibilities.

If you have an internship lined up and you aren’t sure if it would qualify for our ITR program, reach out to your Career Education Specialist.

*Definition of a Quality Learning Experience: Internship must provide the student with a quality learning experience. This could include, but is not limited to projects, direct work with clients, observations (but cannot be exclusively observational), participation in events and meetings, research, trainings, and other professional development opportunities. It is understood that administrative work (e.g. filing, data entry) is a regular part of the workplace. However, administrative tasks should be no more than 30% of the internship responsibilities.

Students can complete up to 24 credits of ITR throughout their time at URI to use towards graduation, and may enroll in ITR 302 multiple times until that 24 credit cap is reached.

In order to repeat ITR 302 in another semester, your internship experience must be distinct from your prior internship(s). This could include:

• An internship at a different organization
• An internship at the same organization, but in a different department
• An internship at the same organization in the same department, but with different or additional responsibilities

When enrolling in ITR for a second semester (or beyond), you will only enroll in ITR 302 and will not retake the ITR 304 seminar.

A student may not participate in two different internships in the same semester for ITR credit. Students are also discouraged from participating in two different internships in the same semester for two different sets of credit, due to the difficulties of managing both internships and the significant drop in ability to succeed as evidenced by years of past students.

The following scenarios are the only ones in which a student may participate in multiple internships in the same semester through ITR:

• The supervisor is the same individual for both internships (e.g. the supervisor is a clinical therapist in both a hospital setting and in private practice – the student may gain experience in both settings)
  
• The agency/organization is the same, but the supervisors differ (e.g. a student interns within two different departments of the same agency, (e.g. a student interning in a high school in the Guidance department and in a classroom in the same high school)
  • Supervisors will need to coordinate with each other to designate one superior as point person for the course instructor to communicate with

Your internship should generally follow the same dates as the academic term you are registering for credit in, with some flexibility.

If you would like to begin your internship early, you may begin accruing internship hours two weeks prior to the start of the semester. Alternatively, you can extend your internship hours to meet the requirement by up to 2 weeks or through grade submission.

Although it is strongly discouraged, students may end their internship two weeks prior to the end of the semester provided all of the following conditions are met:

• All internship hours are complete
• The end date is approved by the internship supervisor
• The student continues to participate in the internship seminar, completing all required coursework, through the end of the semester

Internship credit through ITR cannot be applied retroactively. You must enroll in the ITR courses at the same time that you are completing the internship in order to earn ITR credit for the experience.

If your internship or work experience is ongoing or you are returning to the internship in a future semester, you may register for ITR credit provided the quality learning experience guidelines outlined elsewhere on this page are met.

If you have prior work experience you would like evaluated for academic credit, please explore the Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) program or contact Zakary Pereira, Coordinator for CPL.