The time has come: you are going to do an internship. Before you start looking for an internship, it is important to set learning objectives for your internship. After all, you want to make the most of this time and do your internship at a company where you can learn something. But why should you set learning objectives and what are good learning objectives for an internship? Stuvia helps you on your way with tips and examples to make your internship an even greater success.

Why should you set learning objectives for your internship?

Formulating internship learning objectives is often required by your school or study program. Working on specific learning objectives will allow you to prove that you have learned new knowledge or skills during your internship. However, the learning objectives must be in line with the given competencies of your study program.

Obligatory nature aside, it is also very valuable to you to formulate learning goals in advance of your internship. By doing so in advance, you define what knowledge and skills you want to develop, keeping you sharp and motivated. It is also the ultimate test of whether the internship company suits you. After all, you want to do an internship at a company where you can develop yourself!

What are good learning objectives for your internship?

Now you know why you should set up learning objectives for your internship. The next step is to find out how to set up good learning objectives. Good learning objectives for internships are guiding, measurable, achievable, and specific. A useful method you can use to set good learning objectives is the ‘SMART’ method. This method ensures that you will develop better and faster. Please, be sure to check it out.

Learning objectives for your internship: examples

To help and inspire you even further, we listed several examples of internship learning objectives below. Always keep in mind that your internship learning objectives should be a combination of what you want to learn and what your study program expects you to learn.

Internship learning objectives examples:

'Before the end of my internship, I want to have been the project leader at least once on a project in which I was ultimately responsible for the planning and the outcome'.

'During my internship, I want to represent company X twice by giving a presentation to potential clients or preparing a communication tool'

'During my internship, I want to conduct research with a recommendation that will contribute to the growth and awareness of company X in the future'

'I want to develop my planning skills further before the end of my internship. I want to do this by using the planning tool Asana'.

When you set your internship learning objectives, you should focus mainly on objectives that will help you in your future career. But learning objectives are valuable in more situations. Setting up personal learning objectives during your studies, for instance, can help you succeed in your studies. You can think of learning objectives that will help you learn to cope better with stress or change, which indirectly will also make your internship more successful.

Do you want to earn some extra money during your internship? Then upload your old study documents and start cashing in!