Employers’ Perception on Internship Programme

¹ Universiti Kuala Lumpur Business School
² Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia

^* Corresponding author’ email: nurjannah@unikl.edu.my

Abstract

Internship program is compulsory for Bachelor in Accounting (BIA) students in University Kuala Lumpur (UniKL). We believed internship program is useful to facilitate students learning opportunities outside classroom. These experiences provide the opportunity to apply classroom theory into real working environment thus enhancing students’ academic and career goals. Constructive comments from supervisor will give us indicator that we must prepare the students with all aspects of accounting wide knowledge. Employer’s feedback is important in preparing the students for the industry by developing a better programme structure and subjects offered. It is indirectly improves the lecturers’ teaching methods and skills. Therefore, this paper explores the employers’ perception towards internship programme for accounting students in Universiti Kuala Lumpur. Data was collected from employer’s feedback form using five point-likert scales distributed to employers of the participating companies from Semester January 2013 to Semester January 2015. The evaluation form is used to evaluate the students’ performance throughout their 6 months internship period. The statistical results found that student’s score is positively associated with employer’s feedback. The results also indicate that the employers’ perception is important for the students in preparing themselves for the industry and for the university in developing proper programme structure.