Internships are temporary work positions, usually taken on by students while they are enrolled in a college degree program. These work positions place an emphasis on education through experience rather than simply as employment. Internships are not necessarily taken on only by college or university students, but also after graduation, and sometimes prior to achieve full-time employment in a field.

There are a wide variety of internship options available to students: full-time, part-time, paid, unpaid, stipend-based, for-credit, volunteer, etc. In general, for technical fields such as science, engineering, or business, internships are paid. Internships can be obtained through numerous organizations, since these organizations are often looking to benefit from low-cost, easily trainable students, who may one day enter as specialized full-time employees. The typical length of an internship ranges from a couple months to as long as a year, providing students with an opportunity to understand their work skills, improve their resume qualifications, and improve their professional networking.