CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

An internship is an opportunity offered by an employer to potential employees called interns, to work at the firm of a fixed, limited time.

Meaning an internship is a period of work experience offered by the employer to give students and graduates exposure to the working environment, often within a specific industry, which is related to their field of study.

An internship can be as short as a week or as long as 12 months. They can be paid or voluntary; however, before you start an internship it’s important to know your rights concerning getting you paid.

An internship can be done in a range of sectors, including sales, marketing, engineering, graphic, design, management, I.T., and many, many more. Throughout an internship, you will develop a variety of soft skills, including communication skills, personal effectiveness, presentation skills, creative problem solving, and influencing skills.

This internship was carried out at the Administration of the Port of   Equatorial Guinea (A.P.G.E Bata) from August 5th October 5th, 2019.

The internship training was carried out to blend theoretical knowledge and practical skill and to fulfill the requirements for the award of a bachelor’s degree in Science (B.Sc.) Degree in Business and Development Studies with a specialization in Marketing at the Pan-African Institute for Development –West Buea.

Objective Of The Internship

Participation in an internship program offers many benefits to an undergraduate communication student in the following ways;

• First, it allows a student to both make and develops professional contacts. Second, both full and part-time employment offers become available.
• Third, students can develop a greater understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
• Lastly, students can refine their career goals.

The internship programs also hold benefits for the field supervisors and sponsoring organizations, such as providing motivated workers at no or relatively low cost to an organization and furnishing the opportunity to train possible future employees for the organization.

Participation in internship programs allows the field supervisor and organization to maintain a working relationship with the university in which the student is enrolled. In several cases, special projects can be accomplished more inexpensively by using student expertise.

1.2   Benefit Of Internship To The Institution

Department and institution benefit by providing a different mode of career education to their students and attracting attention to and the enrollment of major in the department. The administration of the internship also keeps faculty in touch with the needs of the working world.

At one large southern university, student eligibility for an internship is determined by the major and minor of the student, grade point average, and participation in the pre-major requirements. Interested students follow specific procedures to enter the program and to meet the internship requirements. Students are enrolled on a pass\fail basis.

The grade is determined by the use of a journal kept by the student, a final paper analyzing communication in the organization, and a written evaluation by the field supervisor.

1.3   Benefit Of Internship To The Organization

The internship program helps the organization in the following ways:

• New skills; Internships are a great way to bring fresh ideas and new perspectives into the organization. Technology is always changing and graduates are in the privileged position of having gained the most up-to-date knowledge available.
• Flexible resource; due to the flexibility of an internship, organizations always have access to skilled candidates ready to take on that project that has been left on the backburner.
• Low –cost staffing; the national minimum Wage is 6.70 per hour for those who 21 and over.
• Develop current staff; graduate internships present the unique opportunity to develop organizational staff through mentoring. working closely with graduate interns help ideas and new ways of thinking.

1.3   Operational Definition Of Terms

Interns: an intern is one who works in a temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training rather than merely employment, making it similar to an apprenticeship.

Interns are usually college or university students, but they can also be high school students or post-graduate adults seeking skills for a new career.

Student internships provide opportunities for students to gain experience in their field, determine if they have an interest in a particular career, a network of contacts, or gain school credit. Internships provide employers with cheap or free labor for (typically) low- level tasks (stereotypically).