Dr. Matthew Hora gave a lecture on November 5th at UW-Madison about a recent trip to China to study college internships. The cultural, economic, and political history of internships are discussed, and recent results from a mixed methods study.

1. Internships and Experiential
Learning in a Chinese University
A Report from the Field
Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions
Fall 2018 Seminar Series
Matthew T. Hora, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Liberal Arts & Applied Studies
Research Scientist, Wisconsin Center for Education Research
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Email: matthew.hora@wisc.edu Twitter:@matt_hora @UWMadisonCCWT Web: ccwt.wceruw.org
Slide deck posted on: www.slideshare.net

2. Today’s Talk
1. Background to the College Internship Study
2. Cultural, political, and economic context of college
internships in contemporary China
3. Preliminary findings
4. Implications for college internships in the US
and Wisconsin

3. 1. Background to the College Internship Study
Public education and outreach: Seminars and Symposia
Labor market research: Skilled non-college occupations
Participatory Action Research: Hmong-American undergraduates
“Inspired” by proposal in WI to make internships mandatory for UW System graduates
Literature review: few empirical studies, multi-disciplinary and multi-
national, terminological confusion

4. Research Questions Guiding the Study
Research Questions
Literature (scholarly and practitioner) points to key structural features:
Supervisor support Task clarity/autonomy Coordination w/academics
2. Does participation vary by students’ race, major, or socio-economic status?
3. To what degree are structural characteristics of internship programs associated
with student satisfaction, developmental value, wages and employment status?
4. Are institutional resources and procedures sufficient to support equitable and
high-quality internship programs?
1. What are students, educators, and employers emic conceptions of internships?

5. Documenting internship practices
“in the wild”
A problem of instructional design
Problematizing internships as:
A vehicle for social mobility or the reproduction of inequality

6. College Internship Study Sites
2018: 1 technical college, 2 comprehensive PWIs, 2
comprehensive HBCUs
2019: 4 technical colleges, 1 comprehensive PWIs, 2
comprehensive HBCUs, 1 tribal college
Hora, M. T., & Blackburn Cohen, C. A. (2018). Cultural Capital at Work: How
Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills Are Taught, Trained, and Rewarded in a Chinese
Technical College. Community College Review, 46(4), 388-416.

7. Tianjin University
Founded in 1895 18,000 undergrads; 15,000 grads
Foreign Expert Grant: 2.5 week stay

8. Model of Confucian scholarship/elite education
Pre-cursor to modern internships I: Apprenticeships in the trades
Pre-cursor to modern internships II:
Down to the Countryside
Labor market rationale: Scarcity of urban jobs
Political rationale: Dispersal of the Red Guards
Ideological rationale: Instill
revolutionary, proletariat spirit
2. Cultural, political, and economic contexts of
college internships in contemporary China
Pedagogy: Memorization and recitation Working w/hands is lower-class

9. Pre-cursor to modern internships II: Down to the Countryside
Source: http://kinolibrary.com/#/collections

10. Context for Chinese internships in the 21st century
Rapid urbanization, economic growth Massive growth in higher education
Growing disquiet about “College for All”

11. From “Outline of China’s National Plan for
Education Reform and Development 2010-2020”
We will advocate teaching to be heuristic, exploratory, discussion-
based, and participatory, and help students learn how to study.
We will stimulate student’s curiosity, develop their interest and
hobbies, and foster a fine environment for independent thinking,
exploration and innovation. (Chapter 11, # 32)
Source: https://www.videoblocks.com/video/chinese-college-lecture-students-
china-hv0wjgqliq2vj6cb
Source: http://sosc.hkbu.edu.hk/en/node/1200

12. Source: Financial Times (2017). https://www.ft.com/
content/bf01de70-cea6-11e7-b781-794ce08b24dc
Source: The Guardian (2015). https://
www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/oct/
06/hp-and-dell-suspend-use-of-interns-in-chinese-factories
Documented violations of labor laws
Source: https://www.scmp.com/
news/china/society/article/
2103529/university-china-apologises-
after-students-forced-do-internships

13. 3. Research Design & Findings
Study Design: Concurrent mixed-methods (online survey, focus group,
interview, document analysis, site tours)
Sampling: Survey (all seniors except nursing/allied health and teacher ed), focus group
(self-select from survey; volunteer to teachers), interviews (snowball sample)
Focus groups (n= 85 students), interviews (n=14 faculty), interviews (n=8 employers)
Data collection: Semi-structured protocol - freelist, questions (and probes);
translator present at all times

14. Term Frequency Salience
Experience 15.3% 0.122
Work 15.3% 0.119
Factory 14.1% 0.114
Job 10.6% 0.091
Company/firm 9.4% 0.070
Practice 9.4% 0.066
Learn 7.1% 0.054
Salary 8.2% 0.040
Student conceptions of “internships”
“The first word I wrote down is ‘factory.’ After all, what we
have learned in the university is the theory. If we want to
practice those theories, we go to the factory where the
production activity happens.”
(Mechanical engineering student)
Written free-list exercise: n=85 students

15. Students w/internship Students w/o internship Educators Employers
Term Salience
Experience 0.46 Experience 0.508 Experience 0.572 Learning 0.349
Learning 0.432 Learning 0.379 Development 0.525 Mentorship 0.347
Paid 0.302 Career 0.273 Mentorship 0.383 Development 0.213
Exploration 0.272 Unpaid 0.262 Connections 0.284 Experience 0.201
Connections 0.27 Advancement 0.245 Advancement 0.26
Intern
qualities
0.199
Opportunity 0.254 College 0.252
Focus on pay, differential focus on mentorship and learning
Comparison w/US student data
Written free-list exercise: n=57 students (Tech College, PWI Comprehensive, HBCU Comprehensive),
n= 19 educators, n=19 employers

16. Term Frequency Salience
Experience 15.3% 0.122
Work 15.3% 0.119
Factory 14.1% 0.114
Job 10.6% 0.091
Company/firm 9.4% 0.070
Practice 9.4% 0.066
Learn 7.1% 0.054
Salary 8.2% 0.040
No references to pay, career exploration, or career-
advancement in Chinese student sample
RQ2: Students’ emic conceptions of “internships”
Written free-list exercise: n=85 students

17. Structure and format of internships at TU
Internship structure/format varies from department to department
Architecture Engineering English
1st internship: “cognitive internship” after sophomore year (2-3 weeks)
2nd internship: 2-3 months at job site
2nd internship: 2 weeks at job site
Internships: ???
2-week field trips: “More like visiting a scenic spot”
Engineering
2 weeks at a factory
200 students from 4 universities
1 “master worker” to 60 students

18. “Scenic spots” in China
Huangshan (Yellow) Mountains
Anhui Province

19. Engineering students’ experiences w/internships
“We walk around and look around most of the time, just like a tourist”
“My internship was at X Motor Factory to see processes of car
production, but the factory is so dangerous we couldn’t actually operate
machines. But I was impressed by the power of the machines.”
“The university should train the workers who teach us since I feel the
workers are not capable of teaching.”
“I am happy with my internship because (at night in the dorm) we can play
together and chat more with each other.”
“It was too noisy to hear what teachers were saying - if the school can
buy wireless headsets every student can learn more efficiently.”
“I think if you want to make the internships more meaningful, the university
should first define “internship.”

20. Insights from Vocational Colleges
“Classrooms” are indistinguishable from workplace
Older workers hired to socialize students
into workplace norms
Massive investments in cutting-edge
technology & hands-on learning

21. Implications and the “so what” question
Implications for Tianjin University and other Chinese institutions
Need to not rely on internships as sole venue for active learning
Need to engage LOTS more employers to host internships
Design programs to be longer and far more interactive
Learn from vocational colleges and question job
availability for college grads, BUT don’t reify the trades at
the expense of comprehensive education
Build upon promising practices (e.g., reflective writing) and
faculty interest in active learning1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
China does not
need more
graduates with
pieces of paper to
proclaim how
clever they are.

22. Carefully screen (and hold accountable) employers for commitment/
ability to provide a robust, equitable, and mutually beneficial internship
Implications for Wisconsin and US colleges/universities
Pay close attention to issues/problems with equity, access,
and discrimination
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Provide adequate resources ($$, human) to adequately administer
high-quality internship programs (e.g., not 2 FTE for UW System)
Learn from colleagues in vocational colleges and disciplines w/
track record of work-based learning (e.g., engineering, nursing)
Learn from strengths and weaknesses of other national systems
(e.g., China, Germany, Australia)

23. Implications of the Coming Robot Revolution
Will impact different disciplines/occupations differently
Internships will become even more valuable - to acquire, develop,
and practice complex non-routine tasks and “soft” skills
In manufacturing, some firms offer no internships b/c only
recruiting high- and low-skilled workers

24. Figure 1. Internship in the Past 12 Months (Yes/No), by Race / Ethnicity
Figure 2. How well did your job site supervisor and your academic program or faculty coordinate
with one another to ensure the internship tasks were related to the curriculum?
(N = 102)
N = 395. Number of observations by category: Asian or Asian-American / Yes Internship= 6; Asian or Asian-American / No
Internship = 25; Black or African American / Yes Internship = 4; Black or African American / No Internship = 15; Hispanic or
Latino / Yes Internship = 7; Hispanic or Latino / No Internship = 11; White or Caucasian / Yes Internship = 83; White or
Caucasian / No Internship = 229.
Note: American Indian excluded due to confidentiality restrictions
Coming Soon: First data releases from College Internship Study

25. Next Steps
Expanding College Internship Study (UW-Oshkosh, Univ Baltimore, FSU, Kyoto)
Stay tuned for technical reports from Phase I
college internship study sites
Next CCWT seminar: Dr. Matias Scaglione on “middle skill jobs”
11/20 10am, 259 Ed Sciences
Email: matthew.hora@wisc.edu Twitter:@matt_hora @UWMadisonCCWT Web: ccwt.wceruw.org
Slide deck posted on: www.slideshare.net