Will Engineering Internships Really Help?

Does creating internships encourage more people to study engineering or just reward the ones that have already decided to? Obviously internships are important for hands-on experience, but I don't know if more internships = more engineers.

Our adult son did co-op while between sophomore and junior years. It helped him decide to become a software engineer along with a math major. He has done well as a result.

Our Medical Device company offered internships to Engineering students between their Junior and Senior years. These students were already excelling in their Engineering programs. Yes, their decisions were already made and they were committed. We later hired several of them after graduation. Several later were involved in our patents and in the following years progressed well professionally.

Wonderful programs, but I'd not expect them to lure students into the field.

The OP forgot to include "Co-Op" study & work programs linked to the BS engineering curriculum's.

When I attended Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester NY (one of the first of such programs in the US) for my BSCE, we students were required to complete 5 Co-Op Quarters (not semesters) during our 5-years of education. IMO, having that experience certainly helped pay the bills and provided a solid work experience that employers loved to have.

I don't know if internships will actually boost enrollment of kids into engineering schools........the kids need to be introduced to engineering and math early in school, possibly even during the elementary school years, for them to really get their heads into an engineering career.

Prior to that school education to be made useful by including practical work in science and technology so that kids will think that education is for learning skills and not only to pass written exams in theory.

Thanks for bringing a very good point to this topic. I would go further to say that American students get fed the idea that a degree is a degree - that it doesn't matter if your bachelor's is in engineering or basket weaving so long as you have one on your resume.

Many students to go to great lengths to take the easiest path to graduation by enrolling online classes were possible, selecting "intro" courses that cover the minimum amount of material, and even pick instructors based on student surveys of which is the easiest. These students go to university with their minds closed assuming that an engineering curriculum would be too hard and probably even a waste of time because they've been led to believe that somehow they will find a way to make more money with a business degree.

On the plus side, employers can remain confident that they are getting the best students when they hire people with engineering degrees because all of the others wouldn't bother to do the work.

At present employers including governments, prefer graduates or degree holders than trained or experienced guys for unknown reasons, because they posses a certificate had a convocation etc. We should see that our kids know their stuff irrespective of possesing a degree or not by teaching practical ideas. If you ask a kid to bring sodium chloride he/she need not go to a chemist must know that it is the common salt which we use in homes. Similarly acid,starch,alkali etc. Kids should know cals in our foods and how much cal is spent in various activities like reading,walking,running,physical exercises etc. They should be introduced to tools used by technicians and basics of household supplies like electricity,water supply,gas,telephone,computer network,recycling,energy saving etc so that when they grow up they will be fit for work as well for living without trouble as responsible citizens instead of becoming criminals or joining armed forces..

It makes a lot of sense for a young student to take a position or maybe even be willing to work for free, in a field that he/she has an interest in. In that way they find out whether they like the field enough to invest a lot of money and time and when they go back to school they will work harder because they are motivated. They will know what is important and why they are in school and be more disciplined in their studies, hopefully.

As long as there is no government money (which we don't have) involved, it's a great idea.

As far and helping or hurting unemployed engineers, I don't know. The thing the government could do there is to be more proactive about the business environment they promote, mainly, get out of the way of businesses (needless taxes and regulations).

The one thing that will guarantee a larger supply of engineers is duh? HIGHER PAY, Is there a shortage of specialized doctors? Is there a shortage of CEOs? Is there a shortage of military generals? Does somebody really get paid to think up these no-brainers?

Maybe they thought it up on an unpaid internship?

--Asok

Higher pay won't guarantee job safety. Without proper training an engineer will feel insecure.