Earn Academic Credit

Students wishing to earn academic credit for internship participation are guided by the following requirements:

120 hours (minimum) of internship participation is required to earn three academic credits, our standard format; you may discuss with an IEL staff member potential options for flexible credit
Identification of Learning Objectives at the beginning of the internship
Mentoring from a supervisor with expertise corresponding directly with the internship focus area
Completion of meaningful academic assignments as outlined in our internship syllabus

How to Report Your Internship

Once you have secured an internship offer, share your good news with us by emailing mgt-internships@buffalo.edu.
Obtain a detailed internship description or internship posting from your employer. We can help with this step as needed.
Log in to BizLink, and click "Report My Internship/Experience" from the shortcuts located at the right of your home page.
Complete and save the Experiential Learning Main Form.
Our staff will review your internship report for approval. Once approved, we will email your employer and instruct them to complete the Management by Objectives (MBO) agreement. You will be copied on that email.
Submit the completed MBO to mgt-internships@buffalo.edu. International students are required to follow additional steps.
We complete your course registration for the internship. The course will appear on your UBLearns account as a 496 registration for undergraduates, or a 648 registration for graduate students.
You will receive our internship syllabus and will be responsible for completing assignments in order to receive a passing grade. As a reminder, all internships are graded pass/fail.

Review and save our Internship Fact Sheet for full details.

Yes, a credit-bearing internship is linked to actual academic credits. You must pay tuition upon the semester of enrollment. This is the case for any course taken within the SUNY system. Current tuition rates can be found on the Student Accounts website.

Yes, you are required to complete assignments as outlined on our syllabus, sent to all credit-bearing interns via email after registrations are complete. Syllabi are also available in UBLearns.

Legally, for-profit companies cannot offer unpaid internships unless they are recognized by the university as connected to the academic curriculum. If you are working as an intern in a for-profit company and are not paid or registered for credit, the employer is violating U.S. Department of Labor regulations. Nonprofit organizations often prefer students to be registered for credit during internships as well.
International (F-1 status) students must always register their internships for academic credit as a first step in obtaining CPT work authorization.

An undergraduate internship registration that will cause you to exceed 18 credit hours requires an override on your HUB account. Please bring this issue to our attention before we attempt to complete your registration.
An MBA student is not usually eligible to participate in a credit-bearing internship if doing so will cause his or her total credits for the semester to exceed 18. Contact us for assistance.