Oxford students go international

As winter deepens and Christmas approaches, it can be cheering to plan how to spend the summer.  This year, Oxford's new International Internship Programme offered students the opportunity to spend the long vacation learning new skills in a new country. 'One of the challenges of educating students in the 21st century is equipping them to work and live in a global context', says Dr Heather Bell, the University's first Director of International Strategy. 'Oxford has a very successful track record of educating future leaders; how to add an international dimension to this is an important question.'

Many universities address this issue by creating joint degrees or exchange programmes. Although Oxford has a handful of degrees that feature an international component (including, of course, modern language degrees), its three-term rather than two-semester academic year and its unusual teaching and examining style make 'parachuting in' to a course in another country quite difficult. 'We are keen to add that international experience, but exchanges or adding a whole year to someone's degree course aren't great options for us', says Dr Bell. 'While term time is difficult, the long vacation offers an excellent opportunity to take on a job and, in the ever more competitive job market, work experience is a big plus on a CV.'

Oxford's first international interns visited Canada, Germany and the USA. Biologist Zuzana Burivalova, who is considering whether to do a PhD, left Lady Margaret Hall to undertake research at the University of  Toronto, living and working with graduate students both on campus and at the Koffler research reserve.  Chinese student, Dan Liu, who studied for an MSc in Management Research at St Cross, joined Xperion, a global corporate group that develops and markets products and structures made of fibre composite materials. Based in Herford, Germany, Dan worked with Xperion's Executive Vice-President for Marketing and Sales on corporate strategy, business development and competition. Sean MacKenzie, who is reading for a BA in Modern History at St Catherine's College, spent the summer  working in Birmingham, Alabama. 'I worked at Motorpool.com, a start-up business that will be the world's first social networking website for auto enthusiasts', he explained. 'There were huge cultural differences and at times I felt I was in a Tennessee Williams play, but the adjustment was an easy one thanks to the genuine openness and kindness of the people there'.

Motorpool is the brainchild of Morgan Murphy, who came up with the idea while studying for an Executive MBA at the Saïd Business School (from which he has just graduated). With a background as executive editor and national spokesman for Time Warner and a career as an award-winning journalist writing for publications such as Vanity Fair, Harper's Bazaar and the New  York Post, he feels strongly that internships should help young people focus their career ambitions, and he leapt at the opportunity to help when he heard Oxford was looking for placements. 'Sean sat right beside me in my office. He heard my telephone calls, attended meetings with me, met my staff, talked to my designers and developers. I then gave him a large and important assignment: Motorpool needed a database of every manufacturer, model and sub-model of automobile built since 1880 – a perfect task for someone keen on history. His work was simply superb and critical to our business.'

Sean found the experience immensely valuable. 'I learned more than I could have imagined was possible', he says. 'Working closely with Morgan has not only given me a unique insight into the dynamics of start-up business ventures; it has also shifted my outlook towards both my education and my career plans. I'd wholeheartedly recommend internships to other students. They take you out of the "Oxford bubble" and your comfort zone, and give you some idea of what it takes to get on in the real world.'

'The international internships we were able to offer this year were vastly oversubscribed and everyone who offered placements commented on the exceptionally high quality of the applications they received', says Dr Bell. 'Oxford is full of hugely talented young people, and we have students who can do just about anything, whether an organisation needs  a scientist or someone with economic modelling expertise. The University is creating other international opportunities for students, for example through the 10 members of IARU, the International Alliance of Research Universities, but we would love to hear from people interested in the energies and skills that Oxford students can bring to their organisation through an 8–10-week international internship. This year's examples show that you don't need to be a big company to create a memorable experience, and we think an internship is an especially great way for alumni to reconnect – in a personal and immediate sense – with Oxford University today.'