Abstract

In recent years, the transformations of the socio-economic structures and the museum functions have caused some community museums and local cultural museums in Taiwan to lack finances, manpower, and even professionals. Thus, more and more museums are providing students with the opportunity of internships, and the culture and the system of internships are gradually being shaped. Internship is both an important way in which students integrate theories and practical experiences and a core course in the technological universities. This paper takes as targeted study cases the students of Department of Cultural Activity Development in Chia Nan University of Pharmacy & Science in Tainan, Taiwan. First we use such research methods as the collection of the reports of the interns, depth interview, case study, analysis, and induction. We describe the situations of museums and discuss the relationships between internship, responsibilities and obligations of interns, and organizations offering internship from different viewpoints. Through these discussions, we can understand the motives and the consideration behind student’s choices, the assistance from their departments and the contents of internship museums have provided. For one thing, we can inspect whether the learning programs of museums meet students’ expectations; For another, this can reflect if universities’ museum-related courses meet the needs of museums’ various departments. We hope to further discuss how to enforce the communication and cooperation in courses between universities and museums and finally reach a conclusion and make suggestions.