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Marshall University students will have the opportunity to complete an internship while studying abroad in Sydney, Australia, beginning summer 2010.
The program is offered by the Center for Academic Programs Abroad International Education. Non-paid internships will be available for students in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the College of Fine Arts and the College of Liberal Arts.
Interested students must complete an internship application in Old Main 320 along with a resume, cover letter, list of references and portfolio, said Kylie Gallagher, study abroad adviser and exchange coordinator for Marshall University.
“You want to be as professionally prepared as possible for this,” Gallagher said.
Potential employers will interview students upon arrival in Australia, Gallagher said. The deadline for submitting summer 2010 applications is March 1.
Accommodations are a perk of this program. Students who choose not to stay with a host family will live in apartments built for working professionals and will also receive a food stipend, Gallagher said.
Gallagher said she and Corley Dennison, Donald Van Horn and David Pittenger, deans of the three schools participating in the program, were impressed with the accommodations when they visited Sydney from Sept. 25-Oct. 6.
“This place is only one year old so everything is still in very good condition,” Gallagher said.
She said the accommodations are split-level. Each apartment has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a porch, balcony, dining area, kitchen and dishwasher, Gallagher said.
Dennison said the accommodations were first-rate and the program provides students with a pass to use the public transportation systems to get to class or work.
Students can also take advantage of the Southern Hemisphere’s opposite seasons with this program, particularly in spring semester.
“Sydney is a very vibrant city,” Dennison said. “They have some of the best beaches in the world. If our students go in January, that would be the Australian summer.”
Northern Hemisphere summer is their winter but the weather is not as harsh, Gallagher said.
“It’s still going to be pretty mild and very dry,” Gallagher said. “You’re certainly not going to see any snow or any heavy precipitation.”
The concept of internships is relatively new to Australia and will benefit employers as well as students, Gallagher said.
“A lot of their companies do deal a lot with the United States so having someone in there who can kind of give a little more insight into that is really very helpful to them,” Gallagher said. “It’s a really different environment and atmosphere that might be a little more fun and something different that you probably wouldn’t get to do if you stayed and tried to do an internship here.”
Academics are top priority in this program and internship hours are worked around classes, Gallagher said. Financial aid from Marshall can also be transferred as with any other study abroad program, even in the summer, and scholarships are available, Gallagher said.
“If you know you are going abroad for the summer and you’re filing for your financial aid for the spring, it’s not a bad idea to try to go down there and talk to them and say, ‘can I increase my aid for the spring semester?’” Gallagher said.
Dennison said journalism students would have the opportunity to experience how the media works in another English-speaking country.
“Here you have a British-based media system that has influences other than the American system but it’s all in English so you’re able to compare and contrast the two systems,” Dennison said.
The selectivity of the internships varies, Dennison said. Em, an Australian advertising agency, only accepts one intern each semester but others such as Green Peace aren’t as selective.
“Because it’s a nonprofit organization, they’ll take all the volunteers they can get,” Dennison said.
Successful completion of an internship while studying abroad gives students an advantage when entering the workforce after graduating, Gallagher said.
“If you can actually say you’ve done work abroad as well as completing your academics, it really speaks volumes for who you are as a person,” Gallagher said. “You’re able to handle a workforce in a foreign country, handling a different culture, handling everyday stress.”
Marlowe Hereford can be contacted at hereford4@marshall.edu.
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