The Need for a Best Practices Guide for Political Science Internships

The Need for a Best Practices Guide for Political Science Internships Whatever our academic focus, political scientists are facing new demands to prepare students for a career rather than simply a degree. For decades, internships have been part of our effort to merge academic learning with the development of skills important to the workplace, and most departments have internship opportunities as part of their curriculum. With the current focus on rethinking political science education, it is time to adopt a best practices guide to provide greater clarity and uniformity to internships in our discipline. This paper seeks to discuss the reasons why we need such a guide and how it would benefit both students and faculty members.