Abstract:

Numerous investigations have revealed the importance of university students doing internships in companies due to their influence on the development of interpersonal and instrumental skills of graduates in their labour insertion. In addition, this work aims to contrast the role of two additional factors, until now little considered in the development of employability: the adequacy of the internships to the training of the students and the motivation of the students in carrying out the internships. A survey has been carried out among 600 students of the Business Administration and Management degree at the University of Barcelona. These internships are curricular, that is, take part of the curriculum of the students, but at the same time are optional for the students. The data have been analysed using descriptive statistics, frequency analysis and contrast of means. The results show high values for all the items in the survey: for both types of competencies, for the adequacy of the practices to the training, and for the motivation of the students in carrying them out. It is worth highlighting the role of adequacy, due to its relevance from the point of view of defining internships in companies as a training project, and that of motivation, due to the optional nature of the participants. This last aspect raises the issue of internships continuing to be optional, as an incentive to carry them out.

Keywords:

Competences, skills, internships, adequacy, motivation.