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Challenges and Opportunities of Conducting Student Internships during the Lockdown

This paper presents the results of research on the challenges and opportunities of conducting student internships during the lockdown. The research was conducted among students of undergraduate and graduate studies of Information Sciences at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek. Previous studies based on pre-COVID-19 times show the importance of internships during study time, as well as a growing number of hybrid and online-only programmes. COVID-19 amplified the need for online internships, so different companies (especially IT companies) had no other choice than to organise such type of internship. The method used in the research was semi-structured interview. Research results show that participants use different channels of online communication, as well as different types of interviewing processes for choosing internship participants. Based on a particular subfield, participants use different tools for solving a given problem and reporting to their mentors. Mentors put an effort into overcoming a gap in mentoring and adjust their communication to new circumstances. Participants appreciate the flexibility of online internships in terms of working hours and professional and personal connections that they gained despite being socially isolated. A disadvantage of internships during lockdown is a lack of more communication and lectures, as well as the desire that the practical part of the internship itself is live, or at least, hybrid in nature. Research shows that academics should undertake more quantitative and qualitative research once the COVID- 19 pandemic has ended in order to better measure both the advantages and the disadvantages of different remote work policies and practices.

adaptation to COVID-19 ; information technology ; internship ; IT companies ; students

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