News Article
Internship bottleneck: How to break the work experience Catch-22.
In this thought-provoking University Business op-ed, Riipen Co-Founder and CEO Dana Stephenson and higher education advisor and author Elliot Felix explore a pressing question facing higher education and employers alike: what if more internships existed because employers first experienced the value of student collaboration through project-based learning? The article examines the growing internship gap, the limits of traditional employer engagement models, and how embedding real-world projects into coursework can create more accessible pathways to experience, confidence, and career readiness.
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April 20, 2026
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Internships remain one of the most valued forms of work experience, yet millions of students struggle to access them. In this University Business op-ed, Riipen Co-Founder and CEO Dana Stephenson and higher education advisor and author Elliot Felix argue that solving the internship bottleneck may require a different starting point. Rather than asking employers to commit immediately to traditional internships, institutions can create lower-barrier opportunities through project-based learning embedded into the curriculum. The piece explores how work-integrated, employer-connected projects can help students gain experience earlier while allowing organizations to see the return on engaging emerging talent.
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