Officials placed international internships for a multisemester study abroad program under administrative review last month, leaving students questioning the University’s commitment to providing the professional opportunity they advertised.
The Office of Study Abroad sent an email to students in the Global Bachelor’s Program on Sept. 13 announcing all GBP internships are under administrative review for “potential health and security concerns.” GBP students said the announcement made uncertain their long-term academic plans and reflects a lack of communication between the administration and students on program specifics like travel destinations and internship resources.
The program, available to undergraduate students in the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences, Elliott School of International Affairs and the School of Business, launched in fall 2016. The program requires three semesters abroad, but students can choose to work an abroad internship during the summer or during a semester of leave for their third trip, according to the program’s website. Some students with majors that require many classes on GW’s campus, like international affairs and biology, take advantage of the internship opportunity, so they only need to take two semesters’ worth of credits abroad.
Students already scheduled to intern this summer are encouraged to meet with the GBP adviser, Cecilia Bonazzi, to discuss “potential backup options,” the email states.
University spokesperson Julia Metjian said study abroad experiences require “periodic review” and that students have “expressed concerns” over their internship choices in the past. She said these factors led GBP to review the process of how students select internship opportunities and how GBP approves the internships to fulfill GBP requirements.
She said during the hold for review, OSA staff can meet directly with students to ensure they have options and plans to make progress in the program.
“We anticipate that students will have internship choices in the future, and in the interim period, we will review our procedures for selecting internship partners,” Metjian said in an email.
Metjian declined to comment on what specific concerns caused officials to review the internships and who is participating in the review process. She also declined to comment on what options advisers will recommend to GBP students in the meantime or how long the process is expected to take.
Students who were planning on completing an internship for their third study abroad experience said course requirements, club and internship opportunities on campus and financial constraints may prevent them from being able to complete the program if they are expected to go abroad for a third academic semester instead of pursuing an internship.
Phoebe Szosz, a senior majoring in history, said the summer internships are a crucial part of the program, especially for students whose schedules do not make it possible for them to spend three semesters abroad. She said students take the internship option into consideration when choosing to apply to the program and may not be able to fit a third semester abroad into their plans.
“It’s just really not possible for people to continue the program who are counting on the internship,” Szosz said. “It’s just impossible for some people.”
Szosz said she and many of her classmates who are nearing the end of their time at the University are disenchanted with the GBP program because they struggled or failed to get internships after receiving a lack of guidance from program leaders. She said the majority of students with abroad internships have to find them independently because GBP students are unable to use or ineligible for many of the University’s internship program resources, which are six-months long or limited to graduate students.
“When we used GW’s resources that they provided for us to find abroad internships, they were outdated or really unhelpful,” Szosz said.
Szosz said she wishes the University advertised the program differently to avoid implying all students could get internships if they chose to or made it a “realistic option” for students by providing internship databases and guidance for applications for specific abroad programs.
“It just needs more support or it needs to be restructured so that people don’t think that they’re going to get an internship and plan for that and then get no support and can’t find an internship,” Szosz said.
Julia Thornton, a sophomore studying international affairs, said she must complete many of the credits for her major on campus, which makes transferring credits abroad difficult. Thornton said the program’s pause for review left her questioning if she would have to adjust her schedule — she had planned to complete the internship over the summer as her third abroad experience.
“When we apply to the program we make a four-year plan of everything so with going abroad two semesters it’s hard enough to try to get all the classes to meet the requirements,” Thornton said.
Elodie Krawczyk, a sophomore majoring in international affairs and biology, said the information in OSA’s September email was “completely unhelpful” because it provided no specifics on when students will receive further communication other than the promise to communicate new guidelines by the end of the semester. She said the email reflects the “very little” information she has received about other aspects of the program, like deadlines and travel locations.
She said the OSA did not email her about the application for her Singapore semester abroad program, which takes place next semester, until two weeks before the deadline.
“The lack of communication and the ambiguity and the lack of a timeline is really concerning to me,” Krawczyk said.
Krawczyk said she is scared the health and safety concerns that apply to the internships will also apply to study abroad semesters since the two take place in many of the same locations, possibly putting her upcoming abroad semesters in jeopardy. She said she is concerned there is “something much larger going on” that could affect the entire program.
