Internships
Engage with talent from Australia's leading Business faculty.
Our 12-week for-credit internship program connects your organisation with our top Business and Economics students. Internships typically involve students attending your workplace 1-2 days per week during the academic semester or summer break.They perform a range of tasks relevant to both your business and their studies, working under the supervision of a professional in your organisation who has a position or background related to the student's tasks.
What are the benefits of hosting an intern?
Benefit from innovative thinking and fresh perspectives
Garner support across various business functions
Build a talent pipeline and access future employees before they graduate
Contribute to the development of emerging professionals
Key dates & timelines
| Summer | Semester 1 | Semester 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Express interest by | Mid-August | Mid-November | Mid - April |
| Interview period | Early - mid October | Late January – early February | Early – mid June |
| Internship placement | Late November - late February | Early March – late May | Late July – mid October |
Our simple partnership process
- Contact us
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Meet with Faculty’s Industry Partnerships team to discuss your requirements.
- Submit the Internship Request form
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Complete the Internships Request Form. Once submitted, a member of our team will reach out to discuss and provide further direction.
- Academic review
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Our academic team will review your submission to ensure it aligns with Fair Work requirements and provides valuable learning opportunities for our students.
- Academic approval
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Each project proposal is reviewed to ensure it is appropriately sized and scoped for the internship period and that the hosting organisation meets eligibility requirements.
- Legal agreement
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We’ll provide a commercial contract covering key legal and operational matters. This requires signatures from both University staff and your authorised representative.
- Internship advertisement
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Once approved, your position will be advertised to our students. At the end of the advertising period, you’ll receive a list of candidates to consider through your standard recruitment process.
- Commencement
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Once you’ve selected your intern(s), we’ll send you our Host Supervisor Guidelines. These outline the internship expectations, your role as a supervisor, and the support available from our university staff.
I have selected an intern, what do I do now?
To help students successfully complete their internship and subject requirements, we ask our host supervisors to play an active, but manageable, role in guiding and supporting the intern. Your involvement helps ensure students gain real workplace skills and means they can meaningfully contribute to your organisation.
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Please ensure the following arrangements are in place at least one week prior to the internship start date:
- Initiate contact with your intern to confirm working days, hours, location, and a pre-start contact person.
- Confirm first-day logistics, including arrival time, meeting point, and key contact.
- Prepare the workspace (for in-office roles), including office access, workstation, and any required equipment—or advise if the intern should bring their own.
- Set up digital access to necessary platforms and tools (e.g., Google Drive, internal systems).
- Assign a peer contact (e.g., a work buddy or mentor) to support the intern throughout their placement, if possible.
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- Provide a workplace induction, including introduction to the organisation, workplace culture and key emergency and OH&S procedures.
- Introduce the intern to team members, including their assigned buddy or mentor.
- Clarify internship roles and responsibilities.
- Review and approve the student’s Learning Plan which sets out clear goals and activities aligned with your assigned tasks.
- Reinforce key expectations, such as working hours, professional code of conduct and business confidentiality in assessments.
- Plan out learning engagement activities e.g. formal and informal trainings, job shadowing, exposure to relevant projects and meetings.
- For remote internships: establish communication channels, check-in frequency, and interaction protocols.
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- Ensure your intern has adequate tasks to complete throughout the internship
- Offer on-the-job training and ongoing feedback to support skill development and learning.
- Respond to University’s mid-placement email with any updates, questions or any concerns you encounter.
- Support your interns’ completion of academic assessments for demonstrating learning (e.g. reviewing their learning plan, providing performance feedback and signing timesheet).
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- Complete a final performance review and provide formal feedback using a simple template provided by the university. This helps the student reflect on their growth and your organisation assess their performance.
- Sign off on the student’s timesheet to confirm completed hours, a requirement for subject completion.
- Facilitate handover of the intern’s work
- Provide a recommendation/referee letter if applicable.
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We are available for support throughout the entire internship period. If you have any questions, issues or concerns during the internship, please contact us at fbe-internships@unimelb.edu.au.
Ready to get started?
Find out more or get in touch today.