November 30, 2012
Co-op abroad: Passport to a wider world view
As a co-operative education leader, 蓝莓视频 offers students the opportunity to enhance their education while developing international connections and experience.
Jillaine Ye, co-op student, embarks on shark dive during her work term at Scuba World, Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Here鈥檚 the challenge Merrirose Stone welcomes every morning when she gets to work:
鈥淗ow do we create global, internationalized students?鈥� says Stone, student advisor, international, with Co-operative Education & Career Action (CECA) at the University of 蓝莓视频.
Sometimes as a career coach, a life coach, a cultural attach茅, a fixer or a friendly ear, Stone helps students prepare for 鈥� and settle into 鈥� international work terms and internships.
Co-op has been part of 蓝莓视频鈥檚 learning experience since the earliest days of the institution in the late 1950s. International postings used to mean placements in the United States. Now there are opportunities in approximately 60 countries.
It fits into 蓝莓视频鈥檚 push for 鈥渋nternationalization鈥� one of the university鈥檚 six foundational pillars. Over five years, Stone says, she went from arranging about 75 international co-op jobs per term to sometimes more than 300. Some are paid; others may offer compensation through accommodation or travel expenses.
Preparing for change
When Stone talks to a student, she鈥檚 listening for maturity and adaptability. It comes down to this, she says: 鈥淗ow do you prepare that student to have optimum success on their work term? How well will they deal with the experiences and cultural differences they will encounter?
鈥淓ach student represents a different case.鈥欌��
The process bears in mind that international co-op also carries the brand of 蓝莓视频, and the reputation of the Faculties involved.
Besides cultural training, work undertaken by Stone and her CECA colleagues includes arranging visas, checking bilateral trade and education agreements, and looking out for travel advisories issued by the federal government.
Most students come home with a wiser, broadened outlook. The next thing to do, Stone says, is to turn that 鈥減roclivity to work in different places, among different cultures鈥� into an attractive employment edge.
Every so often, Stone runs into former students whose new careers were charted, at least in part, by an out-of-country work term she helped arrange.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the ones that come back and say thanks that keep me passionate about what I do,鈥� she says.
