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Construction Management Internships

For Employers: Thanks for your trust and interest in our internship program and for hiring students from one of the nation’s largest Construction Management programs.

You must register with eCONNECTION through the Engineering Career Center using our career management system to publish and share your company job posts with students and schedule campus and/or virtual interviews to help students professionally develop as they advance.

 

Introduction

Successful completion of an approved internship, including the associated course CNST3185, is a graduation requirement. The internship program complements classroom learning by exposing students to various construction management functions in real-life projects. Students must complete a minimum amount of verifiable work experience as detailed below prior to enrollment in the internship course (CNST 3185).

 

Interim Internship Requirements

Prior to starting an internship, students must find work that meets the CM Internship program requirements to obtain pre-approval from the CM program. Working on an internship without proper pre-approval will result in denying the request to enroll in CNST 3185. Please see details about the pre-approval in the internship enrollment procedure section below. The following internship requirements are valid until May 31, 2025. If there is any anticipated change after such date, students will be informed.

  • Employer: Students must work for an established company as a general contractor, subcontractor, architecture/engineering firm, developer, or owner organization/public agency involved in commercial, industrial, heavy civil, or residential construction.
  • Job/Intern duty: Student must work on a duty closely related to construction project management, such as supervisory field operations (e.g. field engineer, superintendent, project coordinator, and assistant construction/project manager), project controls (i.e., estimating, cost control, planning and scheduling), or specialist work (e.g. contract, quality, safety management, and surveying).
  • Duration: After the submission of pre-approval, the student must complete 400 hours of approved and verified work experience.
  • CNST 3185 course prerequisite: CNST 3185 is for students, after completion of their above internship, to document learning from work experience in a formal report, where technical quality and written communication skills are also assessed. In addition to meeting the above internship requirements, students must satisfy CNST3185 prerequisite before enrollment, i.e. C or better in CNST2351 Estimating I. More details about this course can be found on the course syllabus.

 

Internship & Enrollment Procedure

  1. The student finds a job offer: With registration to eCONNECTION, students may conduct a strategic job search, learn about employer job postings and interview schedules, and apply to qualified positions.
  2. Prior to starting an internship, submit and obtaining the pre-approval: Student must submit an Student Enrollment Request (log in name YourCougarnetID [at] cougarnet.uh.edu (YourCougarnetID[at]cougarnet[dot]uh[dot]edu) and use your Cougarnet password) to have his/her internship employer and job approved by the CM program prior to starting an internship. (If you have started an internship/work experience, please still submit this pre-approval request). All approval communication will be through student’s official email @courgarnet.uh.edu, access it here.
  3. After your pre-approval application: Student begin to work and during the CM Internship, student must complete a minimum of 400 hours of qualifying internship work. During the internship, student shall collect and document necessary information considering the deliverables required in CNST3185, please see the course syllabus for details.
  4. Internship evaluation & course prerequisite: Once the above-approved internship work has been completed, to be eligible to enroll in CNST3185 to earn the internship credit, the student must also meet all the following requirements:
    1. Students must complete the prerequisite requirement of CNST3185, i.e., C or better in CNST2351 Estimating I.
    2. Student who have completed 400 hours of work must submit the form for the Supervisor Evaluation to initiate intern performance evaluation by his/her supervisor. Performance results must be submitted by the direct supervisor uniquely no later than June 1 for summer semester enrollment, July 31 for fall semester enrollment, and December 31 for spring semester enrollment.
  5. CNST3185 enrollment: Once the above requirements are all met and the intern performance evaluation result is satisfactory, the CM program will notify students about how to enroll themselves in CNST3185, and students will complete their registration for the spring, summer, or fall class.
  6. CNST3185 completion: Once enrolled in CNST3185, the student prepares and completes the CM internship report, where technical quality and written communication skills are assessed.

Please visit the FAQ page for frequently asked questions and responses.