Maia Ferdman: Students should seek further real-world experience during study abroad programs
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 7, 2013 12:00 a.m.
Conduct bioengineering research in Singapore. Shadow an Italian doctor. Collect samples from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
These are just a few examples of how students could increase the value and return of their study abroad experiences.
The classic study abroad experience might go something like this: fly to Spain, experience the club scene, attend class, fly home. By working, volunteering or researching abroad, students can distinguish themselves from the thousands of others that use study abroad as yet another classroom experience or vacation.
A 2010 study by technology company IBM interviewed 700 chief human resource officers from a range of companies and countries. It reached the conclusion that workforces in many industries are often impeded by the failure to acclimate to a more global marketplace.
Real-world experience in the form of international internships, independent volunteering or research activities demonstrates adaptability and could expose students to alternative ways of doing business, science, education or whatever else interests them.
In short, they could become what the same study calls a “borderless leader.” American college students are slowly catching on to this growing hiring trend.
According to the Institute of International Education, the number of American college students who completed internships abroad increased by 133 percent from 2003-2004 to 2008-2009.
In the last two years, our own UC Education Abroad Program has begun to follow suit, undergoing a strategic shift and expanding internship options and resources within its programs, according to Briana Sapp, a senior analyst for the UCEAP director’s office. The program is looking to its 100,000 alumni to make connections and find more internships, said Amy Frohlich, a UCEAP operations specialist for Africa and Asia, tasked with developing the office’s expansion of internship opportunities.
For example, the UCEAP currently connects with the program’s alumni working at the Sony Corp.’s London offices and a bank in Switzerland to create internship options for students, said Sapp.
Students should take advantage of these programs to create and solidify networks of alumni all over the world. UCLA alumnus Josue Lopez Calderon said he would not have the job he has today at the U.S. Department of the Treasury if he had not studied abroad at Thammasat University in Thailand.
While there, Calderon taught English to children in rural areas while studying business and economics. He had the opportunity to visit Thai factories and markets and noticed how Thai entrepreneurs tend to maximize the very few resources they have in new and innovative ways.
Calderon said that his experience and interactions with workers abroad made him stand out to federal recruiters – enough to land him a job in the Treasury Department. Although Calderon was able to visit and interact with organizations in Thailand, his visa prohibited him from working internationally. Had he been allowed, he would have picked up a job in Thailand “in a heartbeat.”
In addition to expanding internship and volunteer opportunities, the UCEAP could assist students trying to obtain visas or permits that would allow them a greater number of work options.
In an increasingly globalized job market, students should take advantage of opportunities prior to graduation to demonstrate that they have the skills and capacity to work with people of diverse cultures. And the UCEAP should continue to help them get there.
Email Ferdman at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected] or tweet us @DBOpinion.
