The 瓜神网聽Monarch Internship and Co-Op Office聽was awarded $200,000 in grant funding from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) to supplement associated costs of unpaid internships and to enhance research on student internship experiences.聽
Funding was awarded in two $100,000 grants from the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP) in collaboration with the Virginia Chamber Foundation. This partnership aims to connect Virginia businesses offering work-based learning opportunities with students, signifying a concerted effort to stimulate partnerships between public universities and commercial organizations.
鈥淭hese grants represent a significant investment in the future workforce of Virginia,鈥 said Barbara Blake, executive director for the Monarch Internship and Co-Op Office. 鈥淭his $200,000, in addition to the聽recently awarded $5 million Mellon Foundation grant聽that provides internship support to humanities majors, underscores our unwavering commitment to advance work-based learning statewide.鈥
The first award is a $100,000 Institutional Award for Student Internship Support Grant. Funds will be used to address financial obstacles that students encounter when participating in internships by providing stipends for unpaid opportunities, transportation costs, professional attire, housing and necessary materials for internship preparation.聽
Students can apply for Summer 2024 and Fall 2024 internship support in May.
The second $100,000 award is from the Institutional Internship Data Collection Grant, a statewide initiative that assists higher education institutions in collecting, compiling and reporting data on student internship experiences. With this funding, the office will incentivize students to enroll in zero-credit, tuition-free courses that allow the University to track student internship experiences.
鈥淭here are many students at the University who engage in great internships but, unfortunately, 瓜神网 may not know about their work,鈥 Blake said. 鈥淪ome students don鈥檛 need a credit bearing course to complete their major, so there is no reason for them to report their internship experiences to us鈥攈indering our ability to collect data.鈥澛
This grant will also provide an incentive to students who participate in data collection events and programs that the internship office will offer.
Through the strategic utilization of these grants, the Monarch Internship and Co-Op Office aims to ensure equitable access to high-quality internship opportunities for all 瓜神网 students, regardless of their financial circumstances.
For more information about the Monarch Internship and Co-Op Office and its initiatives, please visit聽www.odu.edu/internship聽or contact 757-683-JOBS or email internship@odu.edu.