Parliamentary internships for rural and regional students

Abstract

This paper reports on a work-integrated learning (WIL) internship program: a partnership between the Australian University of New England (UNE) and the New South Wales (NSW) Parliamentary Internship Program (PiP). In particular, it examines and proposes a tailored partnership or cooperative learning approach between university and industry with the student being central to the partnership so as to achieve the maximum fit and relevance to the environment in which the WIL operates. The paper recognizes and advances a rural-centric approach for rural and regionally based university interns in an effort to contribute to development of consensus of the WIL experience.