Practicum Client Organization Guidelines

The New School international affairs Master’s program has a final semester requirement of either a thesis or “the Practicum.” The Practicum involves working with an international organization on a project. Treated more as “consultancy” than internship, we ask organizations for a project that is rigorous, challenging and difficult. The students are Master’s candidates in their final semester, who come into this final project knowing it will be rigorous, challenging and difficult, and that they are expected to produce work of professional standards.

Students have 15 weeks to work on a project. Projects are done by teams of two to six students, depending on the project and client. In conjunction with the client, the students design an approach to the assignment, conduct data collection and analysis, write a report or produce some other product (e.g. brochure, manual, film). Finally, the team makes a formal presentation to the client and The New School community.

Past projects have included:

  • Developing material for refugee and immigrant schoolchildren for the International Rescue Committee.
  • Producing a toolkit for field staff training on the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse for the International Rescue Committee.
  • A comparative analysis paper for Human Rights Watch on amnesties granted in Cambodia, Chile and Mozambique.
  • Research on evidence in the Milosevic war crimes trial for Human Rights Watch.
  • Strategy on international recognition for the state of Somaliland.
  • A survey on New York City health facilities’ capacity to recognize and treat immigrant victims of torture for Doctors of the World.
  • An organizational needs assessment for the Consortium for Haitian Empowerment.
  • Policy and analysis papers on:

- universal children’s “social security” for UNICEF.

- equitable aid distribution to fragile states for UNICEF.

- human trafficking outreach for the International Rescue Committee.

  • Organizing Immigrant History Week for the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs.
  • Writing a grant proposal to construct and fund a health center in Kenya for the East African Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children.
  • Creation of an e-commerce site for the East African Center women’s sewing cooperative.
  • Making an advocacy film on international HIV and Aids activists for the ATHENA Women’s Network.

"PDPM" - The Practicum is a two-course sequence, with all students required to pass the prerequisite Program Development and Project Management course in the semester prior to the Practicum. In PDPM students learn techniques and tools - needs assessment, logical framework, strategic design, implementation, proposal and report writing, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, advocacy - used in a range of professional contexts, and do so not through a case study or fictional project but through working on what will become their Practicum project. Whether your organization's project is placed in PDPM or the Practicum depends on your deadline - if product is needed by end of semester it will go directly into the Practicum; if additional months would benefit your project, students can do a more thorough job working an extra semester in PDPM. For example, a Fall semester Practicum team would deliver product in December, while a project starting in Fall in PDPM would deliver Practicum productin May. 

Additional Guidelines

Our graduate students:

  • In their final semester, with a wide range of experiences, skills and languages. Eager to deepen their knowledge base, enrich their experiences and become practitioners for social development in the global community.
  • Have analytical skills and experience in project development and program management, including documentation, activity-based budgeting, proposal writing, evaluation and monitoring.
  • Will be assigned to an organization project matching their background, skills and interests with the need and the nature of the project.
  • Will develop and implement a detailed work plan, collect relevant data and information, and increase and apply knowledge surrounding the project.
  • Will prepare and deliver a professional product (e.g. report, brochure, manual, film) within agreed time-frame, including periodic and interim reports as requested by client.
  • Gain understanding of how organizations work, and expand professional networks.

The Client:

  • Provides Terms of Reference describing the project assignment, expectations, timeframe and final product deliverable.
  • Meets with the team at least twice during the semester based on your preferred time and place.

Role of New School faculty supervisor:

  • To act as week-to-week project manager, meeting the students and reviewing their work.
  • To ensure an acceptable level of communication between client and student-teams, to be determined by the client, and to ensure the experience is not a burden on the client.
  • To work closely with students to ensure project deliverables are submitted on time and to specification; trouble-shoot the work prior to submission to the client.
  • To organize and rehearse a client presentation.

Besides being a tremendous student learning experience, it is also our intention that their project work be of great benefit to the client organization.

How to Participate: If your organization has a project that could benefit from a team of students, please send a one to two page description that includes:

  • Project title 
  • Client organization and contact
  • Project objectives
  • Project rationale
  • Principle information resources available
  • Principle outcomes expected by client
  • Primary student activities
  • Deliverable expected, in detail

Send to Mark Johnson at johnsonm@newschool.edu or telephone 212-206-3524 ext. 2451. Feel free to also include any additional questions.