A Class Act

Last week’s meeting of OPREG (Ontario Public Relations Educators Group) was a chance for co-ordinators from six of the 12 colleges with PR programs to compare notes. One of the discussions, naturally enough, was the topic that always tops the interest-meter for applicants: internship.

Whether it’s called Field Placement, Work Placement, Field Work, Independent Study or Co-op, most programs have one. The difficulty is we all do it differently. The majority of programs tend to have block placements, recognizing the importance of exposing students to all aspects of communications projects as they unfold. But the blocks vary. Some students go out for four weeks, others for six weeks, or eight weeks, or 16 weeks. Some go out one day a week. Some don’t go out at all.

No two timeframes are identical. That’s because the semester lengths are different from college to college.

So, you’re a corporate communicator/PR practitioner looking for an intern in Ontario, it’s no easy task to figure out which students are going out when. Even we educators are somewhat surprised at the variety of internship flavours being offered.

There’s no one-stop shopping for interns. For now, your best bet is to contact the colleges directly. Check out links on my earlier postings or at CPRS.