The recently published fourth issue of the Employment and Entrepreneurship Service Newsletter, a publication of the Ministry of Education (MOE), contains two articles about the efforts of XMU and CFLC to secure internship opportunities at international organizations for students.
One of the articles, entitled “XMU Goes All Out to Secure Internship Opportunities at International Organizations for Graduates”, gives a full account of the University’s initiatives to send students to work at interns at international organizations. Such initiatives include drawing up plans for promoting internship opportunities at international organizations, conducting extensive questionnaire-based surveys to identify students’ intents to work for international organizations, running a bulletin board system for internship opportunities at international organizations, and hosting seminars for students to share their international internship experience. The article highlighted the internships of two CFLC students, Shao Hongjing and Chen Pushun, at the United Nations.
At a CFLC-hosted seminar, Miss Shao, a graduate of the Class of 2016, and Mr. Chen, a PhD candidate at CFLC, shared their internship experiences at the UN with an audience of more than 200 XMU students. They said that internships at the UN allow interns to gain a first-hand impression of the day-to-day working environment of the UN, work directly with outstanding and inspiring career professionals and senior management, be expose to high-profile conferences, participate in meetings, and contribute to analytical work as well as organizational policy of the UN.
The event increased students’ understanding of international organizations and inspired their enthusiasm for working for international organizations.
Miss Shao, who graduated from CFLC in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in the German language, interned at the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in New York City. She is currently the Chinese secretary at the Embassy of Germany in Beijing.
Mr. Chen worked at the UN headquarters from January to March this year as a proofreader of English to Chinese translations. He has been working on his PhD at CFLC since September 2015. Prior to that, he was an instructor at XMU’s Tan Kah Kee College.
XMU will continue to invite students who have completed internships at international organizations, staff members working on international collaboration programs, and scholars in related fields to share their experiences with and insights into international organizations with students through lectures, dialogues and forums. CFLC, dedicated to the development of students’ language skills, will increase its efforts to secure internship opportunities for its students.