Our recent guest speaker M.Vivian shared her insight on international internships and her role working working with students, companies and institutions. Reading further on this, the articles I found speak of many of the benefits we have covered when discussing the internationalization of higher education this semester. But there is the issue of the high cost of the international summer internships and the disparity in access. The article The Impact of International Internships and Short-Term Immersion Programs looks into the international internships at Middlebury College. Many of the internships are with international non-profits and NGO’s. Middlebury admin note that internships provide real-world experience, and the real-world involves the challenge of cross cultural adaptation. The University of Pennsylvania has an extensive international internship program that focuses on non-profits and start-ups. They active encourage students to seek opportunities that are outside of western Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and those selected receive awards that can cover up to 75% of expenses.

A look at third party internship providers shows why the concept of interning abroad can be controversial. In the aptly titled articles Internships Abroad: Unpaid, with a $10,000 Price Tag, and Foreign Interns Head to China, the New York Times covers the rising demand for international internship and the students (and families) who are willing to pay high sums for the experience. Many of the students profiles in the Times articles were business, marketing and finance majors, they spoke of the competitiveness in the job market and the belief that international experience would make them stand out. The high-priced unpaid internships are viewed as an investment, with the return on  investment being post-graduation employment.

There is the issue of inequality- the wealthier students who can afford these experiences will have an advantage in the job market. Which is probably true. But is it anymore of a disparity than the student who can afford a degree from NYU vs the student with a degree from a local public university? I believe that the broader scale benefits we have discussed on the topic of internationalizing higher ed apply just as much to internships. And while the number of interns seeking financial firms is probably greater than those seeking NGO’s, either position has the potential to contribute to greater cross-cultural awareness among college graduates and if they have the opportunity and the means to experience a summer interning abroad, institutions should support it.

Resources: Internships Abroad: Unpaid, with a $10,000 Price Tag http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/education/edlife/the-10000-unpaid-global-internship.html

Foreign Interns Head to China: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/28/world/asia/foreign-students-seek-internships-in-china.html

UPenn International Internship Program: https://global.upenn.edu/iip

The Impact of International Internships and Short-Term Immersion Programs : Retrieved from: http://remote.baruch.cuny.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=96312003&site=ehost-live

While reviewing different news articles this week, I found a very interesting piece pertaining to this class which I wanted to share with you all. The Times Higher Education blog just posted an article titled “The US risks falling behind on internationalization.” Author Phillip Wainwright explains, “Stateside efforts to widen higher education’s global reach are fragmented and conflicting. With college-aged populations now in decline in many countries with highly developed systems of higher education, including the US, and with a rapidly expanding demand for excellent education in countries with growing middle classes, the opportunity – even the necessity – for established universities to think globally is clear.” Yet, in spite of international efforts, Wainwright believes that US institutions are not moving as aggressively as they need to be to keep up with global education trends.

As many other articles acknowledge, the U.S lacks a ministry of education. Because of this, Wainwright believes that international initiatives from the United States specifically lack the force that other global programs receive from their governments at home. He asserts, “As individual institutions or state university systems face the challenges and opportunities of globalisation, few have fully embraced it – even though globalisation is happening, whether they want it or not.” He makes the very strong point repeatedly that internationalization is a real issue which is occurring right now. He thinks it is very important for all institutions to pay attention to this global trend, or risk being left behind. Although Wainwright spends a great deal of time stressing the importance of internationalization, he truly faults American institutions for not systematically thinking a little bit more about opportunities which globalization creates, or may create. He also feels that change is less prominent for Americans because it is all happening at the state and institutional levels, unlike many other countries. Although Americans pride themselves on democracy, he sees this point as a fault of our system. He closes the article by concluding that internationalization in Higher Education is truly at a crossroads right now, both here and abroad. He feels that “global-mindedness at home” (better known to our class as IaH, internationalization at home) is going to continue to play an important role in the spreading of knowledge, both within our own institutions and likewise beyond borders.

I really liked this article because I believe that it brings up the very real issue of America’s flaws pertaining to Higher Ed. Although we are definitely a global leader, this piece shows that we still have work to do on the international front, and other countries (and authors) are still critical of the way that we run our institutions.