Education + Training

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate whether unstructured graduate student research internships conducted in collaboration with community agencies build capacity and knowledge for students and community.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports the results of four semi-structured interviews and 20 pre- and post-internship surveys of students' perceptions of their internship activities; whether participation built research capacity in students and community resulted in the creation of new knowledge and promoted ongoing partnerships and relationships.

Findings – Students reported generating concrete outcomes for community partners, the acquisition of new research and professional skills, plus an increased understanding of theoretical knowledge. Many students also maintained ongoing relationships with their organizational partners beyond the terms of their internship.

Research limitations/implications – Limitations to this study are the relatively small sample size and reliance on self-report measures.

Practical implications – The paper describes a model for student-community engagement that benefits both community and students.

Social implications – As universities explore their relationships with their local communities, graduate student internships have tremendous potential for supporting research and knowledge-based needs of local communities, while providing valuable skills and training to a cohort of students in bridging academic research to real world solutions. These students may go on to be community engaged scholars, or research trained personnel in the community.

Originality/value – The results presented in this paper demonstrate the benefits to graduate students in scholarship of engagement programs that prioritize true partnership between students, universities and communities.