Economics Internship Coordinator: Michail Fragkias (208) 426-3308, michailfragkias@boisestate.edu
Internships are strongly encouraged by economics faculty. Internships provide a good way for economics majors to satisfy graduation requirements while gaining practical skills and making valuable contacts.
Economics majors who do unpaid internships are eligible for special scholarship aid to help meet school expenses during the semester of their internship.
An economics internship finds a student working in a local business, government agency, or non-profit organization on projects such as;
- gathering and analyzing information
- designing economic development plans
- finding international customers
- designing economic forecasting models
- writing an analysis of the Idaho tax structure
Internships are more than just practical experience. They provide learning fully comparable to that received in the classroom. At the end of an internship, the student reflects on the experience and identifies the economics knowledge they have gained. No one should think that internships are less rigorous or less academic than regular classes. They are simply an alternative way of learning economics.
Course Number: ECON493, Economics Internship
Prerequisite Courses:
- ECON303 – Intermediate Microeconomics
- ECON305 – Intermediate Macroeconomics
- BUSSTAT207 – Statistical Techniques for Decision Making I
Formal Requirements:
Once the student and a member of the economics faculty have tentatively arranged for an internship, the student must write a one to two page proposal that clearly states exactly where the student will be working, what the student will be doing, and who will be the on-site supervisor, and exactly what economics knowledge the student expects to gain from the internship. University regulations require than an intern perform as least 50 hours of work for each academic credit awarded. Internships are graded on a pass/fail basis.
Report Requirements:
At the end of the internship, the student must write an internship report. A suggested outline for the report would be:
- Introduction (two or three paragraphs)
- Describe the internship in general terms. Include the name of the company or agency, identify its principal goals, and state its size in terms of annual sales or budget and the number of employees.
- Tasks (one or two pages)
- Describe exactly what you did for the company or agency. Include the intended outcomes of each assignment, the methods you used to accomplish the outcome, and the results achieved. If you produced any reports or publications as part of your assignment, attach copies as an appendix to your internship report.
- Economics knowledge gained or enriched (three to five pages)
- Examine your internship in terms of the economic concepts and techniques of analysis you have learned in your classes. What has your internship experience contributed to your knowledge and skills in economics?
- Evaluation (one or two paragraphs)
- Provide your own evaluation of the internship. Was it intellectually challenging? Did it provide opportunities you would have missed out on if all your learning had taken place in the classroom? Would you recommend to other students that they seek an internship in the same company or agency?
Please see the internship coordinator — Michail Fragkias (208) 426-3308, michailfragkias@boisestate.edu — for information and assistance.