Educational and industrial internships as a tool for developing professional competencies in the context of a dual-profile bachelor's degree program
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Introduction. The relevance of the research is determined not only by the rapid transformation of the educational system but also by global trends in this field. These are driven by the need to overcome the gap between the training of future specialists within higher education and the real requirements of a dynamically evolving labor market in the field of education. In this context, academic and industrial internships serve as a key instrument that ensures students’ direct immersion into the professional environment, creating conditions that closely approximate their future professional activities. The aim of the research: to develop a concept of academic and industrial internships within a dual-profile bachelor’s degree program. Materials and methods. The research materials included 48 internship programs implemented within bachelor’s degree curricula developed between 2023 and 2025 at the Institute of Art Education of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, as well as theoretical and methodological sources, scholarly literature, and regulatory documents governing the educational process in the field of art education. The study employed methods of analysis, comparison, and description aimed at identifying the characteristics of the studied programs, particularly the role of internships as an essential component of the curriculum and their relationship to the development of professional competencies. KEYWORDS Results. Changes were identified in the ratio of academic and industrial internships across different years of implementation of the “Teacher Education” programs at the Institute of Art Education. It was established that over the past three years, while maintaining the overall scope of the practical block (60 ECTS), the focus of the dual-profile bachelor’s program has shifted toward a balance between types of internships, including an increase in the volume of academic internships by 8 ECTS, as well as the inclusion of a greater number of practical sessions within certain disciplines. More than 9% of the total classroom hours of the disciplinary part of the program are allocated to practical sessions, and more than 30% to laboratory work. The growing role of employers was also noted, as reflected in the significant increase in the number of students admitted under target training agreements over the past five years: from 1 student in 2019 to 7 students in 2023. The proposed concept of internship content demonstrates a focus on the active development of professional competencies, as reflected in the diversity of activities and task blocks performed by students during internships, designed to cover all potential areas of their future professional field. Conclusion. The results of the study deepen the understanding of the significance of practical training in the preparation of future specialists and provide recommendations regarding the structure and content of industrial and academic internships. These recommendations may be applied in the design of new higher education programs in the context of training artist-teachers.
Institution: Herzen University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7137366704