INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN BUSINESS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 12(7)(2023) 190-198 * Corresponding author. © 2023 by the authors. Hosting by SSBFNET. Peer review under responsibility of Center for Strategic Studies in Business and Finance. https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v12i7.2755 Pondering over the nexus between internship programme and skills development: insights from past and present interns S.J Mabeba (a)* M.P Sebola (b) K.R, Chauke (c) J. Mamokhere (d) (a,c) Department of Public Administration, University of Limpopo, South Africa (b) Department of Development Studies, University of South Africa, South Africa (d) Department of Research Development and Administration, University of Limpopo, South Africa A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 17 August 2023 Received in rev. form 23 Sept. 2023 Accepted 29 Sept. 2023 Keywords: Internship programme, graduates, skills development, unemployment, employment JEL Classification: O15 A B S T R A C T In South Africa, the internship programme was introduced under the Skills Development Act of 1998, with the primary goal of addressing the country's skills shortage and fostering the growth of a skilled workforce. This act laid the foundation for various skills development initiatives, including internships, aimed at enhancing employment prospects and facilitating the transfer and development of essential skills among graduates. As a result, the pursuit of internship programme has become a prevalent practice among university and college graduates in South Africa, as they recognize its significance in securing employment and acquiring the necessary skills. Considering this, the objective of this study was to examine the relationship between internship programme and skills development within three government departments in Limpopo Province. The research employed a quantitative research approach and collected empirical data using semi-structured questionnaires. Seventy-one (71) past and present interns from the three select government departments were surveyed between October and December 2019. The data collected were analysed using Microsoft Excel. The study's findings reveal a positive nexus between the internship programme and skills development. Interns were able to acquire a diverse range of skills. The study recommends that there should be a rotational assignment as part of the internship programme to expose interns to different departments. Internship programme should serve as a valuable platform for the transfer and development of skills, providing interns with meaningful experiential learning opportunities. © 2023 by the authors. Licensee SSBFNET, Istanbul, Turkey. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Introduction There are multiple reasons why graduate unemployment persists across South Africa. One important factor is the lack of suitable work experience, which has been identified as a major contributor to the issue (Graham, Williams & Chisoro, 2019). Another factor is the poor quality of the educational curriculum, which has been linked to graduate unemployment in countries like Sri Lanka and Malaysia due to a mismatch between the skills acquired and the demands of the job market (Samaranayake, 2016). Youth unemployment and a deficiency of skills that meet market demands have been persistent concerns in South Africa since the country's democratic transition (Statistics South Africa, 2021 as cited by Malapane & Mukonza, 2023). Addressing these issues requires combining theoretical knowledge with real-world experience in the workplace (Graham et al., 2019). As a result, work- integrated learning programmes, such as graduate internships, have gained wider acceptance and implementation in South African public institutions, including the Department of Education, the Department of Provincial Treasury, and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in Limpopo Province (De Lannoy, Graham, Patel & Leibbrandt, 2018). Equally, lack of work experience remains a key obstacle for recent graduates, and this issue has also been identified as a root cause of graduate unemployment in Europe (Nez & Livanos, 2010). In response to this challenge, the South African government introduced Research in Business & Social Science IJRBS VOL 12 NO 7 (2023) ISSN: 2147-4478 Available online at www.ssbfnet.com Journal homepage: https://www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs