Internship programs constitute a vital component of practical teaching in higher vocational institutions, serving as a tangible manifestation of enhanced school-enterprise collaboration and industry-education integration. They represent a crucial approach to improving talent cultivation quality and strengthening graduates’ social adaptability. Vocational undergraduate education, as a pivotal segment of applied undergraduate education, bears the responsibility of nurturing high-level technical and skilled professionals, with the effectiveness of internship management directly impacting the achievement of educational objectives. This paper examines internship management practices among vocational undergraduate students, identifying challenges such as misaligned institutional goals, substandard internship content, inadequate process supervision, and oversimplified evaluation frameworks. Based on these findings, four optimization strategies are proposed: establishing a mutually beneficial partnership, restructuring internship curriculum frameworks, developing digital-intelligent platforms, and implementing diversified collaborative evaluation systems. These measures aim to address current internship management challenges, foster deeper school-enterprise integration, and elevate the quality of talent development.