Bridging Management Theory and Practice through Student Internship Programs

By Nnamdi Madichie, Assistant Professor of Marketing at the College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, UAE, www.sharjah.ac.ae

This case study presents the findings of management students’ internship program at the College of Business Administration (COBA), University of Sharjah UAE. A sample of 40 Accounting Major students formed the basis of the case and anecdotal evidence suggests that contrary to popular belief, UAE graduates tended to gravitate more towards the private than to the public sector employment. Based on a participant observation of 40 students on internships programs at COBA, and drawing from a sample of three exceptional cases from the Summer 2008/09 cohort of Accounting Major students, this case illustrates how to best bridge the gap between management as a taught discipline and management as a professional career. The internship program is a six week event requiring a completion of 120 credit hours at the minimum. It must be noted that the research was not predetermined but spurred by observations after company visits by an academic supervisor in the third to fourth weeks of the training program. Based on these visits to the work place of the interns, it was observed that contrary to the perception that graduates of UAE universities tended to favour public sector employment, it was those in the private sector that seemed more enthused about the internship program.

It was also students in this sector that hoped to be retained or employed on graduation. Three specific cases readily stand out – Muhanad who was attached to a regional private sector accounting firm; Mohammed who was placed at another regional behemoth in the media and entertainment industry and Aisha who underwent a placement at the headquarters of a popular Islamic Bank. In the first case, Muhanad seemed very comfortable in pointing out the divergences between internal and external auditing on the one hand and accounting standards on the other. Apparently he was quick to spot that his classroom experience, although necessary, was not sufficient in understanding the broader context of auditing in the real world. Mohammed, on the other hand, enjoyed great autonomy after having proved to his employers that he was hard working by going beyond his allocated hours in order to complete the tasks he was assigned. Consequently, he enjoyed direct contact with the media conglomerates’ clients with a dedicated email address and the processing of claims, for which he was responsible for verifying cost centres and channelling appropriately.

Finally, Aisha assumed the role of a full-time employee at the Islamic Bank where she worked. She did the nine to five and reconciled accounts. She also found auditing more interesting than other activities at the bank’s headquarters, such as payroll. Interestingly, Aisha had to write weekly reports for her boss who also happened to be the key contact person between the bank and the university.

These three cases are indicative of the less known value of student internship programs – notably motivation and greater personal development. They also point to the need for such programs to be tailored to students with at least a final semester to graduation in order that they may be able to feedback their experiences from the real place of work back into the classroom environment, in order to enable the accommodation of such practical experiences into the curriculum design. This would undoubtedly contribute towards narrowing the gaps between management theory and practice. Overall this case illustration should spur a more detailed research on how academics can bridge the gaps between management experiences, classroom experience and the demands of the real place of work.

Anglohigher®

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