Developing graduate employability through a credit-bearing, curriculum-embedded internship: an education–industry partnership case from Japan

Purpose To examine how a credit-bearing, curriculum-embedded graduate internship in Japan develops graduate employability and how reflection translates specialised academic knowledge into professional judgement. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study of a year-long graduate course at a university in Japan in which postgraduate students worked with industry and public-sector partners on digital transformation challenges. Questionnaires were completed by 16 students, seven instructors and four partner organisations, combining Likert items and open-ended responses; these were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, supported by descriptive statistics used to contextualise the qualitative findings. Findings Students reported gains in career relevance, problem-solving and cross-disciplinary communication. Four themes emerged: authentic data work strengthened analytical capability; reflection translated specialised knowledge into professional judgement; interdisciplinary collaboration fostered boundary-crossing communication; and tensions between innovation and feasibility, autonomy and scaffolding, and academic and partner expectations became productive sites of learning. Research limitations/implications The study examines a single programme at one university using self-report data, so findings are analytically rather than statistically generalisable; comparative and longitudinal research is needed. Practical implications The case identifies four transferable design principles for graduate work-integrated learning and education–industry partnerships: curricular embedding, structured reflection, scoped authentic ambiguity and explicit interdisciplinary facilitation. Originality/value A rare empirical account of a year-long, curriculum-embedded graduate internship in Japan, reframing graduate employability as the development of professional judgement through structured reflection rather than the accumulation of discrete skills.