On Oct. 9, a single bullet point was silently added to a list of 13 other undergraduate requirements: all first-year and future students must now complete an internship to graduate.
The unannounced change caught many administrators, students and faculty off guard. Two faculty and one administrator — all wishing to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation — told The Retrograde that the new requirement and its implementation is “messy.”
Since 2014, JSOM students have been required to complete an internship and report it through the school’s online tracking system. During the 2024-2025 school year, 1,859 undergraduate JSOM internships were reported through the school’s online tracking system.
Professor A, an anonymous EPPS professor, said that no such system or other similar preparation materials have been created for other schools.
“I’m not sure exactly how the university is expecting students to make that happen,” Professor A said. “Students are asking me if they need to have an internship and, honestly, I have very little idea what I should be telling them.”
The university has not yet formally outlined its plans for implementing the new requirement. For some, like literature sophomore Gabrielle Torregoza, the lack of follow-through could jeopardize the change’s effectiveness.
“In general, I am pretty in support of internship requirements but I do think it should be specific,” Torregoza said. “For literature I think it’s more difficult to follow. You can’t put this requirement if you’re not going to give more guidance to students.”
When asked for comment, the Office of Undergraduate Education and Success Center redirected questions to each school’s advising offices. UTD President Prabhas Moghe and the Office of Communication have also not responded to comment requests.
In search of a motivation
In lieu of an official explanation from UTD, community members have speculated two main theories for why the requirement has been added.
One potential motivation may have been for the university to provide international students a means of remaining eligible for internships.
On Aug. 12, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, an office within the Department of Homeland Security, sent school officials a memo reworking how curricular practical training, or CPT, should be authorized.
Under the federal order, F-1 international students may only participate in CPT if it is expressly required for their graduation. If a university approved internships for students who did not need the experience to graduate, the school could lose its ability to admit international students and administrators could be criminally tried in court.
The change hit UTD particularly hard since the university hosts more international students than any other school in Texas. Discouraging international students from attending could worsen an already drastic trend: plummeting international enrollment.
In fall 2025, UTD enrolled 4,298 international students. The university has, every year since 2013, exceeded that amount — except in fall 2020.
The Retrograde and Student Government’s spring 2026 “Budget Breakdown” previously found declining international enrollment to be the primary factor behind UTD’s 5.3% budget cut.
Requiring an internship would make UTD uniquely positioned to provide international students internship opportunities.
“On the surface level, the new change sounds amazing,” an anonymous international student said. “The U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services Office will not approve [international students’] request. A lot of universities have seen this and they’re not prompting students to go get a CPT; they’re discouraging internships. Our university took a different stance.”
At time of publication, no official university communication has identified if this was the motivation for the added requirement; nevertheless, one international student has praised the administration’s quick response while remaining federally compliant.
“I personally think they were thinking good for the students and really wanted to be a place where students internationally will want to apply to [because] they try to make more opportunities for students to get practical field experience,” the anonymous international student said.
Another motivation could be a continuation of Roadmap 2030 and the political expectancy of profitability from governmental officials.
On Dec. 9, 2025, UTD President Prabhas Moghe unveiled Roadmap 2030, a strategic vision to integrate the campus with local businesses as well as to orient the school around “student success” and “external impacts.”
Professor B, an AHT professor who wishes to remain anonymous for fear of disciplinary reaction, said Roadmap 2030 has been poorly communicated with faculty.
“I have no idea what Roadmap 2030 even is,” the professor said. “They want to focus more on the money of a college education. I’m scared they’ve lost sight of what an education really is: it doesn’t need to be an economic endeavour.”
JSOM’s internship requirement may have served as a model for the university to follow. Student Government Secretary and neuroscience sophomore Fatimah Yousaf said JSOM has used its internship requirement to facilitate sponsorship contributions.
“Companies want students to join their business,” Yousaf said. “The internships that UTD has from these businesses prepares them for that career long-term and brings in sponsorship money to facilitate that pipeline short-term.”
During AY2025-26, JSOM had the largest school budget at $78,469,347. According to Yousaf, JSOM III was possible because of sponsor funding through internships. She said that UTD’s administration might want to bring that economic prosperity to other departments.
Professor B suggested that UTD might also be victim to financial pressures from governmental institutions.
Both federal and state leaders have attempted to take an increasingly economic approach to higher education. On July 1, the Trump administration announced low-paying majors could become ineligible for federal loans by 2028. On Aug. 28, Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to offer three-year degrees at state schools.
The state of internship reporting
During the 2024-25 school year, 2,207 undergraduate internships were reported to UTD — about 10% of all enrolled undergraduates at that time.
UTD’s current internship reporting platform through Orion is available to all students; however, few outside JSOM use the program. Students who report their internship may receive a zero-credit hour class on their transcript.
While 1,859 undergraduate internships were reported by JSOM students, six AHT students reported an internship during the academic year. All non-JSOM schools combined reported 348 internships during that same time
Outside JSOM, the most commonly reported internship was software engineer or developer with 41 undergraduate intern reports.
Internship availability
Nationally, the internship market is shrinking and statistically favors students that have the financial ability to work unpaid. Handshake, the employment platform UTD used until May 2026, reported that since 2022, the rate of application to internship positions has nearly tripled while internship postings have decreased.
Online hiring platform Indeed lists a total of 1,382 internships in Richardson. While exact figures are not yet published, UTD’s most recent data approximates the student body at presently having 22,000 undergraduates.
Regardless, first-year and future students will be expected to find and report an internship before graduation. JSOM has granted certain exceptions to its internship requirement, such as its “special project” replacement that students can complete during a part-time job. It is still unclear what — if any — exceptions may be permitted under the schoolwide system.
ATEC sophomore Andrew Langan hasn’t applied for internships but said the requirement might increase UTD’s internship rates by curbing application procrastination. Generally, though, Langan remains undecided on the state of the internship market.
“I’m not anticipating the process of applying will be an easy one,” Langan said. “It’s going to require outside research but I don’t think it’ll be incredibly difficult. I feel sort of neutral on the idea.”
Another humanities student, ATEC freshman Yamilet Cantu, said even though the art industry is deeply competitive, that internships could provide students a chance to refine certain stylistic preferences employers are looking for.
“I feel like a required internship would be amazing for the prospect of animators,” Cantu said. “Internships can make or break you because even though you’re getting real world experience and getting feedback, it can also diminish you from how well you’re treated at the internship itself.”
Others are not too certain internships will be available for all. An international student who wished to remain anonymous for fear of deportation expressed concern that students could be blocked from graduating after faithfully attempting to acquire an internship. She said international students already struggle to find employment.
“Just because the university mandates an internship doesn’t mean you’re going to get an internship,” the anonymous international student said. “Students from ECS look, apply and work very hard for it but they don’t have that added pressure that JSOM students have that they cannot graduate without that requirement. JSOM students have a hold on their account — another layer of stress. But who’s going to hire in this job market? When you apply to internships and check that box with your immigration status, you get a rejection in 30 seconds.”
Langan said though there is a rough job market, that the requirement could benefit students in aggregate. Still, for Langan, the obligation to find an internship — as opposed to jobs, capstone projects or personal portfolios — seems unnecessary.
“I feel like there are other options in getting into the industry rather than through internships,” Langan said. “This is not something that needs to be required. I could easily see another student already working a job. It’s not a terrible idea but it would depend case-to-case.”
Applying for next cycle?
From now on, freshmen and all future students will need to secure an internship by graduation.
Students are able to access employment and resume review resources through the University Career Center. Internships and other forms of employment on-campus and off-campus are available through 12twenty, the university’s new job platform.
International students may request form I-20, which authorizes F-1 students for CPT programs, through iComet. All relevant details as well as each college’s internship information are available on the University Career Center’s internship webpage. The International Students and Scholars Office also offers assistance to those seeking an I-20.
“Allowing international students to complete internships is critical to preserving our uniquely large and diverse international population,” Green Initiative Chair and supply chain management junior Colton Rupe said. “But this [requirement] shouldn’t become a major obstacle for our hard-working students, especially in more challenging job markets such as computer science.”