Why International Internships Programs are Important Steppingstones for Career Growth and Development
College graduates today would need a global perspective and exposure in order to remain competitive in the current global job market. Most student graduates today would need to negotiate foreign cultures regardless of where they choose to work upon graduation. As part of this ongoing change, international internships should be seen as important and indispensable steppingstones to career growth and development.
Several trends today have fueled the growth and demand for international internships over the past one or so decade. Notably, most graduates students, especially those coming from countries where the economy is weak; seek to pursue employment and career growth opportunities in foreign countries where the economy is promising. While the value for international internships can never be underestimated, it can be very difficult for an institution of higher learning to carve out the personnel and time required to manage these internship programs. Some of the tasks and responsibilities that need to be done include:-
Establishing true and solid partnerships that would cover institution engagement as well as student commitment
Developing a useful academic experience that will equip interns with a cross-cultural education while differentiating international from domestic internship programs
Formulating opportunities that would challenge interns on professional, academic, cultural, and social levels
Ensuring there are meaningful professional placements that suit student's interest with regular on-site supervision to ensure the students get a credible and quality experience.
A good international internship program should therefore work at overcoming the abovementioned challenges through:-
Solid relationships – good international internships agency should have already formed solid relationships with organizations and businesses in different foreign countries where interns are to be sent. This way, interns can be guaranteed of cultural and emotional assistance especially during the first days in a foreign country, general orientation, and more importantly emergency services. What can be more challenging than being in a foreign country and one loses all their possession or fall sick? You want to work with reliable international internships agencies that will see to it that your safety and security is well taken care of until you are settled into the foreign country.
Programs need regular monitoring and evaluation to ensure they are meeting the needs of interns perfectly. The only way you will be assured that a placement matches your interests as a student is to work with an international internship placement program that has a clearly defined application process in order to give you a full picture of what to expect.
Structure – international internships can assume various forms but regardless of the model used by the program you choose, it is important to have a program that emphasizes not only on academic courses but also on intercultural competency, self-assessment, and setting of goals to mention but a few. In addition to ensuring that an international internship program is meaningful, by the end of the day you will need to know whether the cross-cultural exposure will help you in the global job market, only that way will you be guaranteed of working with a good and reliable international internships program.
Several trends today have fueled the growth and demand for international internships over the past one or so decade. Notably, most graduates students, especially those coming from countries where the economy is weak; seek to pursue employment and career growth opportunities in foreign countries where the economy is promising. While the value for international internships can never be underestimated, it can be very difficult for an institution of higher learning to carve out the personnel and time required to manage these internship programs. Some of the tasks and responsibilities that need to be done include:-
Establishing true and solid partnerships that would cover institution engagement as well as student commitment
Developing a useful academic experience that will equip interns with a cross-cultural education while differentiating international from domestic internship programs
Formulating opportunities that would challenge interns on professional, academic, cultural, and social levels
Ensuring there are meaningful professional placements that suit student's interest with regular on-site supervision to ensure the students get a credible and quality experience.
A good international internship program should therefore work at overcoming the abovementioned challenges through:-
Solid relationships – good international internships agency should have already formed solid relationships with organizations and businesses in different foreign countries where interns are to be sent. This way, interns can be guaranteed of cultural and emotional assistance especially during the first days in a foreign country, general orientation, and more importantly emergency services. What can be more challenging than being in a foreign country and one loses all their possession or fall sick? You want to work with reliable international internships agencies that will see to it that your safety and security is well taken care of until you are settled into the foreign country.
Programs need regular monitoring and evaluation to ensure they are meeting the needs of interns perfectly. The only way you will be assured that a placement matches your interests as a student is to work with an international internship placement program that has a clearly defined application process in order to give you a full picture of what to expect.
Structure – international internships can assume various forms but regardless of the model used by the program you choose, it is important to have a program that emphasizes not only on academic courses but also on intercultural competency, self-assessment, and setting of goals to mention but a few. In addition to ensuring that an international internship program is meaningful, by the end of the day you will need to know whether the cross-cultural exposure will help you in the global job market, only that way will you be guaranteed of working with a good and reliable international internships program.
