The Gap Between Theoretical Understanding and Practical Application

While for many university courses in the UK an Internship or work experience program is not seen as a mandatory requirement for passing your degree. An internship can provide many students both domestic and internationally the opportunity to enhance practical based skills whilst learning the theoretical side of their course.

Internships and Work Placements

An Internship has the dual role of providing a means for students to put into practice the range of techniques employed within constructive theory and understand the relevant problems associated within practical application of such measures. In addition work experience placements and internships can help students acquire the necessary communication and intra personal skills that are required these days in order to compete in struggling economic situations.

For instance for many courses within the field of business administration, international management,communication and human resources there is a wide gap between understanding the principles of theoretical constructs of applied theory and the implementation of such theory into practice. Work experience schemes are essential for students if they want to learn from the ground up the differences in practice and theory: especially in dealing with clients and partners and understanding the difference between B2C communication and B2B communication.

The Dilemma Between Studies and Practical Experience

Each year more and more students are graduating with degrees in international business and management and while their technical knowledge maybe proficient their practical knowledge and experience maybe severally lacking. In general, in the UK internship placements and work experience schemes are generally undertaken as a voluntary course to go in conjunction with university based studies and are therefore not perceived to be of much great importance or given much credence as a form of higher education.

In the UK this results in many students who don't fully gain the beneficial exchange of learning how to apply the skills they have learned in their course to reflect on the world of work. Consequently without gaining a first hand perspective of working practices, for many university students they lose the soft skills and competences acquired in university and find it harder to apply those skills after the completion of their courses for when they go into the world of work.

For fields of study in management, communication, sales or human resources for the most part, aside from learning the basic theory, good well rounded experience and hands on practical based training are more than essential. This is becoming more and more essentially especially in the UK. Given the service orientated economy that existing in the UK. Good communication and intra personal skills are becoming more pre-valiant than good grades and credentials. Evidence to disprove those who are anti-internship schemes is that more so than ever before, employers seek proven tangible work experience over academic credentials. This is not to say that degrees are meaningless, it just means that people need to build up a range of skills and competences.  

Overall, the gap between university studies and practical experience especially within higher levels of study and education grows. Many students leave their institution with a degree and qualification but have little experience or knowledge in how to apply the skills they have have learned or what career path they want to pursue.