UC's ProPEL to Offer New International Experiential Learning Program in Hong Kong

Since 2013, the University of Cincinnati's Division of Professional Practice and Experiential Learning has been partnering with the Academic Internship Council (AIC) to offer UC students East Asia professional experiences.

The AIC is a third party that facilitates the job placement, coordinates the student visa application process and provides assistance to students during their experience. This summer semester, an additional international opportunity in Hong Kong will be available to students through the ProPEL and AIC partnership.

The Singapore Experience

was the first semester-long international experiential learning program offered by UC ProPEL through the AIC partnership. The Singapore Experience is an unpaid internship in Singapore, where participating students earn cooperative education credit or academic internship credit for their work experience. The program is available every semester and is open to all University of Cincinnati majors, freshmen through seniors.

Osca Yuwawira, a mechanical engineering student in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, participated in the Singapore Experience in the fall of 2014. Yuwawira describes the opportunity as a once-in-a-lifetime experience that expands your horizons. The firsthand industry work experience and cultural perspective were just a couple aspects of the program Osca valued.

This summer, AIC and ProPEL will provide UC students with internship and co-op opportunities in Hong Kong. The AIC will provide UC students with the same offerings and assistance as ProPEL’s popular Singapore Experience.  

The cost of both programs includes: housing, orientation activities, visa services, full on-site support and emergency services, professional networking opportunities and some cultural and recreational activities. The Singapore Experience and Hong Kong Experience span 10 weeks in the summer and 13 weeks in the fall and spring semesters.

Students accepted into the programs are eligible to apply for grants from UC International and the Freeman Foundation. The Freeman Foundation, a private foundation that supports partnerships resulting in building connections and cultural understandings between the United States and East Asia.  This past summer, ProPEL was awarded $200,000 to support paid or unpaid student work experiences in East Asia countries during the 2014-2015 academic year.

Ronald Gillespie, a Carl H. Lindner College of Business industrial management student, was one of the recipients of the Freeman Foundation Scholarship. Gillespie feels that if it was not for the scholarship, he would have not been able to participate in the Singapore Experience. “I am extremely thankful for the Freeman Foundation and their contribution that allowed me to take part of a life-changing and eye-opening experience.”

Student information session April 16, 2015

UC undergraduate students who are interested in participating in the Singapore Experience or the Hong Kong Experience in the

fall 2015

can attend an information session on

Thursday, April 16, at 5 p.m. in 716 Swift

Hall

.

Application

Fall 2015 Application Deadline has been extended to April 17.  Students can apply by going to UC International’s

website

and searching

The Singapore Experience

or

The Hong Kong Experience

.