Scaling Internships for Every Student with Brandon Busteed

Our guest for this episode of College & Career Readiness Radio is Brandon Busteed.

Brandon says that work-integrated learning connects traditional academic study with learning that happens on the job and includes not only internships, but also co-ops, apprenticeships, job shadowing, and long-term classroom projects designed with industry input.​

Brandon points out that internships are a game changer: students who have an internship in college are about twice as likely to secure a good job at graduation and remain engaged in their careers, but under a third of graduates actually have such internships with real classroom applicability.​​

He emphasizes that the biggest problems are scale and equity, noting that while 8.2 million college students want internships, only 3.6 million receive one; access skews toward students with more resources and social connections.​

Brandon argues that the internship supply-demand gap could be closed if every employer devoted 5% of their jobs to interns, and that even paying all interns fairly would be comparable in cost to other large-scale federal investments.​

According to Brandon, the quality of internships matters as much as their availability: longer internships yield better results, but any length is valuable if there’s a meaningful project, feedback, and structured reflection alongside clear learning goals.​

He believes that high-quality, work-integrated learning can and should be embedded into classrooms through real-world, project-based work that exposes students to a variety of industry roles.​

Brandon’s work at Edconic includes “industry immersive” programs, which partner with well-known organizations so students can experience hands-on projects, receive direct feedback, and learn about multiple types of jobs even if traditional internships aren’t an option.​

He insists that co-designing and co-teaching these experiences with educators and industry leaders is critical, as educators bring assessment and pedagogical skill while industry partners provide real-world context and mentorship.​

Brandon says that parents and educators often focus too much on grades and test scores, undervaluing work experience even though it’s vital for career success.​

Lastly, Brandon calls for a culture shift: he believes that policymakers, schools, parents, and employers need to treat paid, quality work experiences as a fundamental part of education, not just an option for a privileged few.