UNC Charlotte’s Group Internship Program is a course-based internship experience that provides undergraduate students opportunities to develop and refine career skills working on real-world projects. These projects tend to be shorter in duration and focus on producing specific deliverables for an organization.
Partner with teams of 2-3 UNC Charlotte undergraduate students who will bring creativity, research, design thinking, and analytical insight to your organization. Over 8 weeks, student teams will collaborate virtually to help you tackle a real project — delivering actionable recommendations and fresh ideas while gaining real-world experience.
Learners come from a vast array of academic focus areas and bring:
- Undergraduate students primarily in their junior or senior year
- Specific skills to match the needs of the projects provided by our employer partners
- Professional project habits: scoping, timelines, feedback, and presentation experience
Note: these experiences are an opportunity for students to learn from employers while working on key real-life projects that produce key deliverables.
As a project partner, you play a key role in ensuring a productive and high-quality community engagement experience for your student team. You will be asked to host a kick-off call during the week of March 15 to establish goals, clarify expectations, and outline communication practices. At the outset, please provide a clear description of the project deliverables along with any relevant materials, background information, or data required for the students to complete their work. Throughout the project, we ask that you participate in brief bi-weekly check-ins to offer guidance, address questions, and confirm alignment on progress. Upon project completion, your feedback will be essential in supporting student learning and reinforcing the professional skills they have developed through the engagement.
What Employers Provide
- A focused project brief (problem, goals, audience, constraints)
- Relevant materials/data
- A single point of contact to respond to student questions
From the course perspective, deliverables are negotiable between the course coordinator and the industry partner. Learners will demonstrate their applied research, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills to explore and develop an innovative solution for their industry partner's challenge. Working virtually in small groups, learners will professionally demonstrate their leadership, project management, and teamwork skills to evaluate solutions and present their final deliverable for the industry partner.
Deliverables can include, but are not limited to:
- Comprehensive project report with analysis and recommendations
- Presentation of findings and solutions to company stakeholders
- Implementation plan for proposed strategies
- Market research summary and insights
- Process improvement proposal
- Discovery dossier: stakeholder interview guide + synthesized findings, literature/environment scan, annotated sources.
- Audience personas & journey maps with pain points, opportunity areas, and “moments that matter.”
- Mixed-methods insights report with defensible methodology and clear business/social implications.
- Content strategy & messaging framework (voice, tone, key messages, narrative arc, style guide).
- Public history/community narrative package (mini-exhibit plan, interview/story rights plan, caption set).
- Implementation roadmap with pilot plan, roles, timeline, and success metrics.
- Measurement plan + lightweight dashboard mock-ups (KPI definitions, data collection instruments).
- Presentation deck for internal/external stakeholders and a concise one-pager you can share widely.
- Developed projects are between 80-150 total hours per team over a 6 week period (courses are a total of 8-weeks)
- Projects should have clear purpose, key deliverables, and relevant milestones for students to meet
- During week 1, project supervisors will meet with their student team; during week 8 student teams will complete and submit their final deliverable to the project supervisor
- Teams of 2-4 students will be pre-assembled by the program to ensure balanced skills and collaboration
- Projects may be supported by multiple student teams working on complementary workstreams or collaborating in parallel toward the same set of deliverables
- Structured to build practical skills, strengthen workplace readiness, and deliver tangible value to employers
Real-World Application - Project-Based learning (PBL) allow students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world problems or scenarios, making learning more meaningful and practical.
Critical Thinking - PBL promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills as students navigate challenges and make decisions throughout the project.
Collaboration - Students often work in teams during PBL, fostering collaboration, communication, and interpersonal skills.
Creativity - PBL encourages creativity and innovation as students devise solutions and approaches to project tasks.
Ownership of Learning - Students take ownership of their learning process in PBL, leading to increased motivation and independence.
Retention of Knowledge - Because PBL is immersive and contextual, students tend to retain information and skills longer, as compared to traditional learning methods.
Preparation for the Future - PBL prepares students for the complexities of the modern workplace.
Fresh Perspectives and Creativity - Students often bring innovative ideas and fresh perspectives to projects. They are less constrained by traditional thinking and can offer creative solutions to problems that might not be apparent to more seasoned employees.
Future Talent Pipeline - Working with students provides employers with an opportunity to assess potential future hires. It allows them to evaluate students' capabilities, work ethic, and compatibility with the organizational culture before making long-term hiring decisions.
Knowledge Transfer - Students often bring up-to-date academic knowledge and research skills that can benefit projects requiring cutting-edge insights. They can also facilitate knowledge transfer from academic institutions to the workplace.
Increased Productivity - Students are often eager to learn and make an impact. Their enthusiasm and motivation can lead to increased productivity and a fresh energy within project teams.
Community Engagement and Reputation - Employers who engage with students often, build positive relationships with academic institutions and the larger community. This involvement can enhance the employer's reputation as an organization that supports education and invests in future talent.
Objective: Plan and execute a targeted community action initiative that addresses a defined local need.
Scope & Workstreams: needs assessment; stakeholder engagement; action plan development; volunteer coordination; implementation support.
Deliverables: project charter; workplan with timelines and roles; implementation toolkit; outcome summary and recommendations.
Objective: Increase awareness, participation, or fundraising for a community program through a well-designed promotional event.
Scope & Workstreams: audience identification; event concept design; partnership and venue coordination; promotional strategy; logistics planning.
Deliverables: event plan and run-of-show; marketing collateral; outreach schedule; partner/volunteer briefings; post-event insights report.
Objective: Provide community members with accessible, accurate, and actionable information on a priority topic.
Scope & Workstreams: content research; plain-language translation; visual design; cultural/linguistic review; distribution strategy.
Deliverables: final pamphlet (print + digital formats); content repository; style guidelines; recommended dissemination plan.
Objective: Mobilize community members to advocate collectively for a specific policy or systems change.
Scope & Workstreams: issue framing; stakeholder and power mapping; petition drafting; outreach strategy; coalition-building.
Deliverables: petition text and rationale; outreach toolkit (scripts, posts, flyers); signature-tracking dashboard; advocacy summary.
Objective: Strengthen digital presence and drive measurable behaviors (sign-ups, awareness, event attendance) through a targeted campaign.
Scope & Workstreams: audience segmentation; message and creative development; channel selection (email, social, web); testing and optimization.
Deliverables: full campaign package (copy, visuals, schedule); ad/organic content plan; tracking dashboard; campaign performance summary.
Objective: Generate insights that support program improvements, funding decisions, or community advocacy.
Scope & Workstreams: data cleaning; descriptive analysis; multivariate modeling; interpretation sessions; visualization design.
Deliverables: cleaned data set; analytic codebook; insight dashboards; narrative findings report; recommendations based on statistical results.
Objective: Improve customer satisfaction and retention by understanding the customer journey.
Scope & Workstream: Students map customer touchpoints, identify pain points, and recommend experience improvements.
Deliverables: Customer journey map or CX findings summary
Objective: Explore and propose a new product or service opportunity.
Scope & Workstream: Students research user needs, generate concepts, and evaluate feasibility.
Deliverables: Opportunity statement; Concept descriptions; Final pitch deck