INTERNSHIP EVALUATION OF THAI STUDENTS MAJORING IN JAPANESE FOR BUSINESS COMMUNICATION BY JAPANESE COMPANIES: A CASE STUDY OF INTERNSHIP PROGRAM IN JAPAN BY SRIPATUM UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to obtain evaluation of internship students by Japanese companies, to qualitatively review the preparatory education for internship program, and to promote industry-academia partnership as a case study of an internship program in Japan by Department of Japanese for Business Communication, Sripatum University in Thailand. As an evaluation method, a questionnaire survey with eight questions was adopted, consisting of closed-ended questions with single answer (Questions No. 1 to 6) and with multiple answers (Question No.7); and with free answer (Question No. 8). Questions No. 1 to 6 asked satisfaction level of student’s attitude, skills, professional or general knowledge, etc. by four rating scales. There were answers from four companies (valid response rate: 66.67%), and a reliability coefficient was 0.75 (Cronbach’s alpha) in Questions No. 1 to 6. Overall, the survey results showed a considerably high degree of satisfaction (83.34%). However, when viewed on an average-value, there were some high-low differences of satisfaction in each answer. In line with the answer results, further improvements in preparatory education before internship are required to make the internship worthy of evaluation or fruitful.