Contact: Bob Spieldenner 
bobspieldenner@schev.edu 
(804) 225-2628 

For Immediate Release 

June 22, 2023 

Richmond – A report released today by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) examines the status of credit-bearing internships in Virginia and identifies gaps in data and areas needing further research.

The report, “Description of Credit-Bearing Internships at Public and Private Institutions of Higher Education in Virginia for Academic Years 2019-2022,” found that credit-bearing internship activity dipped from 22,946 in Academic Year 2019-2020 to 19,455 in Academic Year 2020-2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and mostly recovered to 21,228 in Academic Year 2021-2022.

The report helps inform SCHEV’s plan to evaluate the statewide internship initiative known as the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP), whose purpose is to expand paid and credit-bearing student internships and other work-based learning opportunities in collaboration with Virginia employers.

“This report is an important first step, but there’s more we need to learn about internships in Virginia, especially about those where students are not receiving academic credit,” said Peter Blake, Director of SCHEV.

To achieve the goal of creating 100,000 new internship positions by 2033, V-TOP is releasing a series of resources to facilitate the readiness of students, employers and institutions of higher education to significantly scale work-based learning.

The Commonwealth’s Innovative Internship Fund and Program (branded as the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership) is funded by the General Assembly. SCHEV administers the program in partnership with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the Virginia Business Higher Education Council.

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