A common requirement for pre-career students pursuing an MPA degree (or its equivalent) is completion of an internship, most often in a local government or nonprofit organization. The impetus for this provision comes from the accrediting body for MPA programs, the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), which requires programs to “demonstrate how their students are exposed to, and learn, professional competencies” (Standard 5.4). Most programs rely on an internship for pre-career students to satisfy this standard.

Developing and hosting an internship provides local governments and universities with an opportunity to create a mutually beneficial experience for all participants—the local government employer, the graduate program, and the student aspiring to pursue a career in public service. But it also creates challenges in aligning expectations among the three parties to meet financial, programmatic, and aspirant constraints.

Four questions arise when working through the issues. What are the elements of a mutually beneficial internship? What competencies should a pre-career MPA student have in preparation for an internship? What preparations should an employer undertake to provide a meaningful internship experience? And finally, what are the elements of a sustainable internship program?

To answer these questions, alumni of the University of North Texas MPA program were sent an open-ended survey asking for their input on their experiences as a student intern and now as an employer of interns. These alumni currently hold positions as chief executives in local governments ranging from rural communities to mid-sized inner- and outer-ring suburbs to major core governments including the cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin, and Denton County.

The following sections summarize their feedback along with my observations from more than two decades as an MPA program coordinator.

Elements of a Mutually Beneficial Internship

As an intern host, the local government not only becomes a partner with the MPA program in the professional education of the student, but the program entrusts a critical component of that education to the intern host. Furthermore, that internship gives students their first encounter with the operation and management of a public agency, producing patterns of behavior that will remain for the duration of their career.

Recommendations for all MPA programs.

• The MPA program director begins by identifying prospective employers of interns, starting with the program’s alumni, and gains their commitment to fund and offer a professionally valuable experience. This is far preferable than requiring students to find their own internship and make the arrangements for their employment. Compensating interns, usually at an hourly rate, is essential for gaining buy-in by all participants.
• The program director then provides prospective employers with a fact sheet of the objectives of the internship and the basic expectations of the employer.
• The program director and employer meet to review and clarify the expectations of the employer, university, and student.
• The program director and employer agree on the process for interviewing, selecting, and compensating the student intern, and the criteria and frequency for evaluating the intern’s performance.
• Once employed, the student intern completes and signs a letter of agreement that specifies the program’s expectations and criteria for evaluating performance. 

Recommendations for larger MPA programs. 

• Ideally, an MPA program should have a full-time coordinator dedicated to managing the internship program. This begins by securing funding and employing an MPA internship coordinator, often from the ranks of alumni who are retired local government executives. If academic credit is given for the internship, the tuition and fees from those credit hours provide funding for the coordinator, although unlikely to be sufficient. The coordinator may be full-time instructor who teaches classes, including an internship preparation course described below.
• Some prospective employers, especially smaller local governments and nonprofits, may balk at the prospect of compensating interns. One approach is for the program director to seek private funding for endowed internships. The UNT program has successfully funded three endowed internships with support from alumni and community organizations. These endowments provide matching funds to hosts unable to provide full support, thereby broadening the pool of prospective employers and giving student interns an opportunity to serve in smaller, but highly appreciative organizations. 

Recommended Competencies for Pre-career MPA Interns

A recurring observation among respondents to the open-ended survey was the importance of prospective interns being prepared for working in a professional environment. In addition to the usual learning curve with being a new employee, pre-career interns also must learn the expectations of working in a bureaucratic organization—appropriate attire, interpersonal relationships, social media, ethics, organizational culture, chain of command.

Most importantly, the intern represents the university. An intern who performs well likely opens the door for successive opportunities for future students. The better prepared the intern the more time the student can devote to learning the organization’s operations and its management. The ideal scenario, of course, is for the intern’s performance to lead to an offer for full-time employment.

For these reasons, the preparation of MPA students before beginning the internship is critical. The following recommendations apply to MPA programs of all sizes.

• Offer a course required for pre-career MPA students that covers basic managerial competencies:
  • Administrative values (ethics, codes of conduct, legal requirements, conflicts of interest, appropriate attire, etiquette, reporting hierarchy).
  • Communication skills (writing memos, emails and text messages, effective presentations, effective public speaking).
  • Media relations (press releases, media interviews, emergency response plans).
  • Committee meetings (preparing an agenda, Robert’s Rules of Order, by-laws, chairing the committee, building consensus, reaching a decision).
  • Managing your career (time management, career planning, negotiating salary and a contract, in-transition/unemployment, membership in professional organizations, cultivating peer support networks).
• In their first semester in graduate school, expect pre-career students to become a member of a professional association. If not already available, a straightforward way to start is for the MPA program to host an ICMA student chapter and engage students in its organization and operations.
• Seek funding for pre-career students to attend regional and national professional conferences.
• As I wrote in a previous article for Academic Matters, the Texas City Management Association annually hosts an Intercollegiate Bowl (ICB) that has proven an invaluable tool for students to network with the state’s managers (one of the “contests”). ICB’s capstone trivia contest creates a fun incentive for students to learn the basics of the organization and operation of city/county government, and the basic facts of local government in the state that they likely would not acquire in the classroom.
• Finally, the intern should review and sign an internship agreement with the internship coordinator that specifies the starting and ending dates of the internship, the expected hours worked each week and the total hours of the appointment, rate of compensation, a copy of the evaluation form and when evaluations will be completed during the appointment, and the requirements for course credit if appropriate.

Recommended Competencies for Hosts of MPA Interns

Hosting an internship brings two organizations together with two distinct timetables, one driven by a budget cycle and the other by an academic calendar. That complicates both the timing of an internship and the availability of either a position or qualified candidates to fill that position. Another complication is that the intern, who is usually part-time, is also a temporary employee who likely lacks any substantive expertise in an area of importance to the employer.

Alumni responding to the open-ended survey offered these suggestions for recommended competencies for prospective employers of interns.

• An internship for graduate students differs from other temporary employees and interns in other fields in that MPA students aspire to a leadership role in public service. Their motivation is to acquire the competencies needed to be eventually successful in an executive role.
• Recognize that interns are still graduate students with limited time and experience.
• Developing and hosting an internship program is your contribution to filling the pipeline of talent for leadership in local government. You now have an opportunity to pay-it-forward by mentoring an aspiring future public manager.
• As such, expect to become more proficient in utilizing the MPA intern as you and the organization gain experience from employing an MPA intern. Consider initially beginning by employing one MPA intern preferably in the manager’s office. With experience and greater competency in mentoring interns, additional positions can be added in other administrative units in the organization.
• Begin by preparing a job description for the internship position. Talk with managers in other local governments with a reputation for effective mentoring skills. Ask for a copy of their job description and any documentation on their internship program.
• Secure funding for an internship in your budget, usually for an hourly wage with no benefits. Expect the intern to complete the onboarding process.
• Involve your governing board in how the intern will be used. As the intern gains experience, give the student facetime with the board by presenting the results of a project or analysis.
• Have a project or series of projects available for the intern to complete. Budget and HR projects work well. But every support or line department likely can benefit from an intern taking on a project.
• Provide adequate training for the intern and meet regularly with the student to assess progress on the project. In this role, you are both the manager and teacher. Know that you are equipping a future manager to carry forward the vision of the council-manager form of government. Not all interns will be chief executives. But most will go on to leadership roles in public organizations and carry with them the values that you impart.
• Work with your local university to develop a compatible schedule for recruiting and employing an intern. The ideal scenario is your internship opens at the same time each year, the university knows to anticipate your need and to have prepped qualified students to apply for your position, and for your governing board and executive team to anticipate, even look forward to, an intern joining the organization.

Elements of a sustainable internship program

A well-planned internship in local government adds substantial value to the MPA degree experience. It provides the pre-career student with insight into the rewards and challenges of a public service career. While it may temper the idealism that often draws students to public service, it may also demonstrate the importance of leadership in bringing about needed changes in the public arena.

As both the MPA program and host employer gain experience with the internship, the interaction between the two participants will become smoother and more efficient. The following are observations on institutionalizing the internship opportunity.

• If you have employed interns in the past, especially undergraduates, but found the experience unsatisfactory, please consider trying again, specifically by working with one or more nearby universities with an MPA program. Consider contacting other managers who have developed a successful program to learn from their experiences.
• Serving on a NASPAA accreditation team is an excellent way to observe first-hand how other universities and their internship partners have developed effective articulation arrangements.
• Recognize that the intern is still a student, that as a host you are part of that student’s professional preparation for a career in local government, and that your investment in them strengthens the profession and the MPA program that prepares them for that career.
• Work with the MPA program coordinator to effectively articulate the difference between the host’s budget cycle and the university’s academic cycle. Ideally, both organizations will articulate their cycles to prepare and employ interns on a recurring basis.
• Discuss with the MPA program coordinator the preparation they provide for students who are required or who otherwise elect to complete an internship.
• Discuss with the MPA coordinator the frequency and timing of evaluations of the intern. In most cases, interns will meet or exceed expectations. In that rare case where the appointment is not a good match, discuss with the coordinator the process for off boarding the student.
• Work with the university to provide professional enrichment opportunities for the intern, such as attendance at a professional conference and membership in professional organizations. Create incentives for interns to be engaged professionally.
• Finally, work to protect the funding for the intern position in your operating budget. Spending reductions typically target such funding for elimination. The governing board’s partnership in the internship program may help to mitigate such outcomes.

ICMA has a long and well-established initiative to fill the pipeline of leadership talent. A manager’s participation as an intern host provides an important contribution to that initiative and our shared quest to attract and retain the best and the brightest for the noblest of professions—public service.