Swinburne recognised for international employability program
In Summary
- Swinburne's pilot internship program wins 'Highly Commended' award
- Each international student was matched with a business professional
- They met over a six-month period to help improve employability outcomes
A pilot internship program developed by Swinburne received recognition at the 2015 Victorian International Education Awards for providing international students with a variety of industry engagement experiences.
The ‘Business Analysis Internship Program’ received a ‘Highly Commended’ award for Excellence in International Student Employability and Career Development.
The program involved each student being matched with a professional business analyst who met them over a six-month period to help improve the student’s employability outcomes over time.
“The program helped students build workplace competencies during their studies and in the critical early stages of their career,” says Xenia Haysom, Swinburne’s Director of Professional Placements.
Students were equipped with skills related to:
- Successfully navigating cultural differences in the workplace
- Job application processes
- Industry expectations of graduates
- Career planning and understanding the reality of the graduate job market
The Department of Economic Development’s Study Melbourne Internship Program sponsored the Swinburne initiative. It ran during Semester 1, 2015 as a work integrated learning unit in the final year of a select number of masters degrees.
Ms Haysom says Swinburne is committed to providing all students with opportunities to engage with industry, through meaningful professional engagement in the classroom or the workplace.
The Swinburne Advantage reinforces this by giving all undergraduate students, including international students, access to work integrated learning programs.
In 2017, Swinburne will offer Professional Internships, which will provide undergraduate students with the opportunity to spend 1-2 days each semester working in industry.
These unpaid internships will provide students with the opportunity to apply their classroom learning in a real world context. The new program will be particularly useful for international students who want to learn about Australian business culture.