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Emily Tang Lai-yi (left) and some other Hong Kong students working in Florida.
Courtesy of Emily Tang Lai-yi
Students want
foreign internship support
by Park Jung-eun
The number of university students going overseas for academic exchange is increasing every year. However, international internships are often neglected by universities, students and employers.
Few international internship programmes are available. For example, the Student Service Centre of Lingnan University indicated that 44 students were sent to work in Australia and the United States in 2004, whereas the Career Planning and Development Centre of the Chinese University of Hong Kong said only nine students were sent to these two countries.
Emily Tang Lai-yi, a third-year student of hotel and tourism management at the Chinese University , complained that the university was not doing enough to support international internships.
She worked as an intern in the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida in 2004. The place was offered by her department rather than the university.
ˇ§As I couldn't find any information about programmes offered by the university, I had no choice but turn to my own department,ˇ¨ she said.
Her department organises programmes for working in mainland China , the US , Britain and Egypt .
However, the programmes in Britain and Egypt are open only to year-two students and just two candidates will be selected for each country.
In Egypt , students will have to find their own accommodations. Miss Tang said students thus preferred to go to mainland China or the US . ˇ§It is very competitive,ˇ¨ she said. ˇ§In fact, I wanted to work as an intern in a resort hotel, like the ones in Thailand and Australia because we don't have such hotels in Hong Kong . Since no such programmes are available, I have to search for jobs on the internet by myself. It's too difficult. I have failed to find one,ˇ¨ she said.
ˇ§Many students go for overseas academic exchanges because opportunities are provided by the university. If similar support is given to internship programmes, more students will be willing to join,ˇ¨ Miss Tang said.
The situation in France is different. ˇ§Universities are supportive to work abroad programmes,ˇ¨ said Pauline Trussart, a year-four student of Universite de Caen.
ˇ§We usually work in branches of French companies in other cities. Students can get information of those branches and where other students have worked from the university,ˇ¨ she said.
In Hong Kong , apart from academic departments, some non-academic units of the universities are providing limited places for overseas internship. For example, the New Asia College at the Chinese University sends students to work in Singapore every year. Liu Sin-yee, assistant student affairs officer at the college, said on average, three students would be chosen from more than 80 candidates for the programme.
In fact, more international internship programmes for local university students are in the pipeline. Tom Fong Wing-ho, the head of the Chinese University 's career planning and development centre, said the university was planning to launch a new programme for working in the US , Australia and several European countries in the semester break next year.
ˇ§We are also trying to organise a new internship programme in Singapore and Europe ,ˇ¨ said Helen Lam, a senior student development officer at the City University of Hong Kong. ˇ§But the number of countries will depend on the number of firms we can line up with.ˇ¨
Still, some students consider those programmes are not enough. ˇ§They are too piecemeal and fragmentary. The universities have to take the lead to organise and promote these internships,ˇ¨ said Tse Chi-keung, president of AIESEC branch at the Chinese University .
AIESEC is the world's largest international student organisation that provides opportunities to work abroad. It has six member branches in Hong Kong.
Mr Tse complained that the universities were not supportive. Citing the case in the Chinese University , he said his group was seldom granted opportunity to promote its programmes at the student assembly. ˇ§Once they even didn't allow us to put promotional leaflets into the information packs they distributed to students,ˇ¨ he said.
Every year, AIESEC at the Chinese University holds an orientation activity called AIESEC Touch to inform university freshmen about these programmes.
About 350 freshmen join AIESEC Touch every year. ˇ§Most of them would like to join work abroad internship and explore other countries,ˇ¨ Mr Tse said.
These freshmen will have to wait for two years before they can apply for the programmes because only third-year students are eligible to apply.
Yet, there are just about 50 internship applicants every year.
Local companies generally consider the working experience in foreign countries the same as that in Hong Kong . Students do not want to leave their home and spend more time and money to obtain a qualification that will take extra work, Mr Tse said.
ˇ§This attitude has to be changed in the whole society. What is most important for university students is not only their skills, but also their international perspectives.ˇ¨ A strong international perspective has been an advantage of Hong Kong students, but it seems that the territory is losing it.
Mr Tse suggested the universities should recommend students returned from overseas internships to local employers. ˇ§The universities can serve as a bridge between students and employers,ˇ¨ he said.
However, he pointed out that some students hesitated to join an overseas internship because they wanted to get a job right after graduation. If they join a long-term internship, they cannot finish their studies in three years. So they prefer short-term internships during semester breaks, he said.
Miss Lam of the City University also said it was not feasible to ask students to spend a year or a semester for internship.
Universities are in the process of converting into a four-year system. When the system is in place in 2012, a massive internship programme may be launched, she said.
Normally, local internship programmes take place in summer for only six to nine weeks. But that will not be practical for students working overseas for just a short period of time because those foreign internships tend to be longer, she added.
In the past few years, some tailor-made mainland China internship packages have been provided to Hong Kong university students. They took place in summer to coincide with students' semester break.
ˇ§These internships are well prepared and courses are given to students before departure to help them get prepared,ˇ¨ Miss Tang said.
ˇ§Air tickets and hotels are all reserved for the students. The university is doing a lot of promotion. I wonder why the same amount of support is not given to internships in other countries.ˇ¨
In Germany, students are enthusiastic about working in other parts of the world. Kang Eui-young, a Korean student studying in Ruhr-Universitat Bochum in Germany, has finished a two-month internship at the Korea Tourism Organisation headquarters in Seoul.
ˇ§Germans believe being an overseas intern is a good experience as well as a stepping stone in one's career,ˇ¨ Miss Kang said. ˇ§They also think that participating in this kind of internship is a way to develop international competitiveness.ˇ¨
She said universities in Germany encouraged students to participate in internship programmes.
When they take an overseas internship for more than four weeks, they can also earn academic credits for that.
Back in Hong Kong, Miss Tang has yet to find her ideal internship overseas. But she is encouraged by the news that universities may provide more programmes for students to work abroad. ˇ§Students can benefit more when more internship opportunities are available,ˇ¨ she said.
