Introduction and Topic:
In the current global climate of heightened job competition, students are grappling with palpable tension between future aspirations and prevailing uncertainties, and this prompts an increasingly initiation into career planning (Jackson & Tomlinson, 2020). Europe, with its well-established career guidance systems, has historically excelled in this domain. The Erasmus+ programme introduced the 'Toward the European Career Development Programme: initiatives, cases, and practices in universities', underscoring the imperative for university students to focus on 'Integration with the world of work'. Asian countries, including China, have begun to advance university career guidance education through policy initiatives in face of a substantial youth labor force and intense employment competition. Internships, a crucial part of career planning, affords students the opportunity to adapt, learn, and accrue experience in a real work environment (Ganibo & Olayta, 2020), thus beneficial in fine-tuning employment decisions and enhancing chances of acceptance.

The formation of students' perceptions to their future development is influenced by both individual (Brown, Cober, Kane, Levy, & Shalhoop, 2006) and environmental factors (McNall & Michel, 2011; Renn, Steinbauer, Taylor, & Detwiler, 2014). Existing studies have proved the positive impact of career guidance education on career planning and job search intentions, (Renn et al., 2014) but finer-grained understanding is still required. The specific effects of students' career planning skills and the school support on their perceptions of internships have not been comprehensively explored. Furthermore, while the significant role of internship providers and higher education institutions in shaping the perceptions during the internships, most research focused on those already in internships (Daugherty, Baldwin, & Rowley, 1998; Zehr & Korte, 2020) and neglected the perceptions before internships and how they come about.

Research Question
This study aims to delineate the influence of career planning competence and school support on undergraduates' internship perceptions, offering various countries insights for a more thorough understanding of how personal ability and school factors affect students' career planning and perceptions in uncertain environment. 

1) Does career planning competence significantly influence the internship perceptions of students with and without internship experience?

2) Does school support significantly impact the internship perceptions of students with and without internship experience?

3) What is the relationship between school support and career planning competence?

Conceptual Framework:

Career planning competency refers to students' perceptiveness of their environment and their ability to formulate and adjust plans on their career (Taylor & Betz, 1983). School support encompasses the internship-related courses, platforms, resources, networks, and counselling provided by educational institutions. The perceptions of internships are students' recognition of the importance of internships, their attitudes towards them, and their sense of self-efficacy when making internship-related decisions.

This study utilizes multiple group structural equation modeling to examine the impact of school support and career planning on students’ perceptions of internships, focusing on the differences between students with and without prior internship experiences. This study distributed questionnaires to undergraduates in China through Wen Juan Xing (Chinese online questionnaire platform), yielding 438 responses between August 2023 and September 2023. The scales used in the questionnaire were adapted from previous research to measure students' career planning competencies (Greenhaus, 1987), the level of school support received (Xuejun & qian, 2010), and their perceptions of internships(Taylor & Betz, 1983). In the sample, there were 152 males and 286 females; 211 had prior internship experiences and 227 did not.

The findings indicate that career planning competence significantly influences students’ perceptions of internships in both groups, with a notably stronger effect observed in students lacking internship experiences. While school support shows no significant influence on the perceptions of internships among students without experiences, it is a predictive factor for those who have completed internships. Additionally, a positive and significant relationship between school support and career planning competence is identified in both groups, with a more pronounced correlation evident among students who have had internship experiences. The outcomes of this research are not merely of academic relevance but also furnish a theoretical framework and reference point for the global enhancement of career guidance in higher education, particularly under the prevailing climate of uncertainty, and for fostering sustainable internship perceptions and employment preparation among undergraduate students.

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