The knowledge approach to the process of training future specialists at the University is losing its relevance. Most professions, including the profession of a civil engineer, requires the acquisition of practical skills. Internship is becoming one of the priority opportunities for obtaining practical skills under the guidance of highly qualified specialists. The article presents the experience of graduate departments of the Faculty of Architecture and Construction of the National Research Mordovian State University named after N.P. Ogarev on the organization and guidance of students’ internships. The authors propose a systematic approach to the choice of the nature of internship and its place. The article presents some solutions to improve the training of competitive specialists for the construction industry. The authors demonstrate the ways of arranging different types of internships for the students of the Faculty of Architecture and Construction of intramural and extramural forms of training at all stages of training. The article presents various profile enterprises, accepting students for vocational training, considers options for concluding contracts with employers, and discusses the duties of heads of internships from the University and the profile organization. The article highlights and describes the structure of the report at the end of the internship period, provides some facts of students' internships as part of students’ construction teams, shows the positive results of the practice of students of the Faculty of Architecture and Construction at various sites of industrial and civil construction of the Republic of Mordovia and the Russian Federation as a whole. Particular attention is paid to the identification of factors that contribute to more effective internships of different types. On the basis of the analysis of practices conducted by the Faculty of Architecture and Construction, the authors suggest a number of areas for improving their organization, including: close cooperation of leading scientists of the Faculty with student research and production teams, training and practical conferences on the results of internships etc.