302 Bulgarian Journal of Science and Education Policy (BJSEP), Volume 9, Number 2, 2015 DOES INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE BEGET ACADEMIC RELEVANCE AND EMPLOYMENT PROSPECTS: AN ASSESSMENT OF GRADUATE INTERNS FROM A NIGERIAN UNIVERSITY Azeez Babatunde ADEBAKIN Obafemi Awolowo University, NIGERIA Abstract. Basically, the objective of internship programme is to ex- pose students to the real world of work and in the process, provide feedback to institutions on the relevance or otherwise of the curriculum. This study there- fore assessed the academic relevance of internship programme and employ- ment prospect of graduate interns from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Population of the descriptive study were graduate students in the De- partment of Educational Management of the university. A sample of 120 graduate students from 2012/2013, 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 academic ses- sions were randomly selected. The post internship semester results, a struc- tured interview and a Likert scale type questionnaire were used in the study. The Cronbach alpha reliability test on the questionnaire showed 0.79 reliabil- ity index. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used at 5% level of signif- icance. The study found that graduate students’ participation in internship has impact on academic performance and also has a significance influence on em- ployment prospect. It was recommended that internship should be geared to-