Holland Williams, director of career development at the College of Charleston, where just over 600 students become interns each year, said there is a growing trend among businesses to offer unpaid internships.
“Some were using them as part-time employees but framing it as an internship,” she said. “An intern cannot replace employees. The company has to offer an educational experience in a professional setting. The intern is not turned loose to do his own thing.”
The College of Charleston’s business school, which places about one-third of the college’s total number of interns each year, partners with a business by contract to set parameters for internships.
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/sep/13/on-the-job-experience/