Role of Internship in Developing Employment Ready Design Graduates in Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the roles of internships in developing employment-ready graduates. An internship is ―Any official or formal programs that provide experience for beginners in an occupation or the profession‖, Galbraith, D., & Mondal, S. (2020). It involves interns‘ students undergoing through various internship process Internship are believed to be beneficial to interns, HLI & industries. Interns gains experience, exposure, skills, networks, competencies, HLI benefits with; feedback, funding, networks & policy development while industry gains, skills, labour and reputation. Despite the benefits, the programs face several obstacles in its full realization; limited time, funding, exposure & curriculum coverage are examples. To assess role of internship in developing employment ready design graduates in Kenya, researcher utilized qualitative approach in form of case studies conducted at 3 select HLI (UON, BIFA & TUK). Semi-structured interviews, FGD, voice recording and archival reports were used. 40 design students drawn from the three institutions, 7 senior design lectures including department chairs, 2 external interns placed at UON, 7 professional design practitioners, 3 executive members of professional design associations 6 former internship placement site supervisors and 10 other design students were recruited using key informants‘ and snow-balling techniques. Data was analyzed using grounded theory, cross-tabulation & descriptive analysis to explain existence of patterns by highlighting recurring flows in the collected data. The study concluded that design internship programs play crucial part in development of employment ready design graduates in Kenya. The programs facilitate deep understanding and practice of professional skills needed for recruitment and/or professional development is design promotion, innovations and entrepreneurship.