Student Internships

Company interests are often served well by engaging students on a full-time or part-time basis as interns for periods of 2-3 months or longer. Students have an opportunity to sharpen their business skills with hands-on assignments in an operating business.

Many of the students participating in this activity have extensive language and cultural understanding of specific overseas markets—e.g. some are exchange students from foreign countries. Most major Asian, European and Latin American countries are covered, as well as many emerging markets in other parts of the world. Student interests also span the various functional areas of business including: marketing, finance, management, organization, information systems, accounting, business policy, human resource management, market research, etc.

The emphasis of EDGE is therefore to focus on opportunities which will permit these skills to be utilized in ways which provide the most value for a firm’s international interests, either through local assignments with international aspects, or arrangements for work to take place in a target market overseas where the company may have an office or presence which matches the student’s expertise. Assignments designed to help companies increase foreign sales are often solicited.

Arrangements for internships depend both on the company’s needs and the student’s schedule. Students are usually available during the summer months, but other periods of time are also frequently possible, especially for local area opportunities. Internships of longer duration—up to 12 months—can sometimes also be arranged in cases where students are seeking this type of experience after graduation.