Internship should be a period of apprenticeship just as rigorous and occasionally frustrating as school. At its best, internship builds self-confidence as well as humility. While there are numerous reasons why any particular internship experience may be more successful than another, in my brief experience the difference is most dependent on communication. So my opinion about how to make internship better is to improve how expectations about internship are communicated, both by interns to employers, and by employers to interns. In this regard, I have two specific ideas: first in creating the relationship, and then throughout the early part of the internship experience.

I lived and worked abroad for two years, and feel that American architects can learn a lot from the ways other countries have developed to train their architects. For example, internship in the U.K. is surprisingly specific about the expectations and responsibilities of both interns and employers. The Royal Institute of British Architects has gone so far as to develop model employment contracts for graduates entering both phases of the U.K.'s 2 years of required internship experience, including the expectation that they will be allowed ten paid days off each year to engage in professional development and educational study/recall days. I am not suggesting that interns in the U.S. need to automatically get paid time off, but simply that this level of clarity about expectations in a formal document makes sense. Many voluntary school-based mentoring programs here in the U.S. currently include written "contracts", which might serve as models for a similar standard in the internship relationship as well.

Another unique aspect of internship in the U.K. is that the primary figure in the internship process is an Educational Mentor, someone from the graduate's alma mater. The graduate thus has a pre-existing educational relationship with their mentor, which overlaps with the graduate's early experiences in practice. The mentoring works both ways, as Educational Mentors often explain the important realities of business to interns, while occasionally intervening with the employer on the intern's behalf. Again, this exact structure may not work in the U.S. However, some formal means of inserting pre-existing mentors from educational settings into the first years of practice would help bridge many of the common gaps in expectations between interns and their employers.

The U.K. internship program, however, is a lot more structured than IDP.
While a more flexible system might be important for some purposes, if the immediate goal is to make internship "better" for the majority of interns and firms, the right kinds of added structure might be a good thing. Simply importing another program is not the best solution, but looking to other global examples in our own profession will only help us innovate and envision new ideas.

I look forward to the opportunity to share my ideas on the important topic of internship. In particular, I hope to learn from others at the conference, and to look for ways to stay involved and informed.