For seniors, Spring 2021 is their last chance for study abroad opportunities before they graduate. Despite the cancellation of all in-person study abroad programs due to public health concerns, students admitted into the programs are still offered a global experience.
Boston University Study Abroad offered virtual internships with companies abroad as a four-credit course to some students who applied to study abroad programs this semester.
Gareth McFeely, executive director of Study Abroad, said the idea behind the virtual internships was to give students interested in that aspect of the program a chance to have internship experience.
“We reached out to them and said ‘We think we can try to arrange some virtual internships, are you interested?’” McFeely said. “About 20 percent of them said that they were interested in that, and so we worked with people that we always work with to do normal in-person programming to see if they were interested as well in hosting virtual interns.”
McFeely said connecting students with companies for internships was “a little rockier” than usual because many of the usual organizations featured in the Study Abroad Program were not too experienced in operating remote internships.
“This is a first for them too,” he said, “even though they were enthusiastic, they haven’t usually been accustomed to doing remote internships.”
Given the remote setting and the time zone considerations, McFeely said virtual internship programs can be more rigorous than perhaps some anticipate them to be.
“It’s been hard too, to try to really help students understand that this is a pretty significant time commitment,” McFeely said. “You might have 15 or 20 hours on the outer edge of a weekly commitment, along with all of the classes that you’re taking.”
To help students adjust to the challenges of virtual internships, McFeely said the Study Abroad Program has decreased the working hour requirement and consistently checked in with students, though participants are usually very independent.
While unable to experience working in another country, Anastasya Chandra, a senior in the Questrom School of Business who is virtually working at a social media marketing agency in Sydney, said remote internships provide professional opportunities to gain work experience.
Chandra said virtual internships can be “very challenging,” but effective communication is the key to success — being the sole remote intern in her office can produce obstacles and confusion, so chatting often with her supervisors is important.
“It’s been a little bit tough, to be honest, because the people in the office, they are working face-to-face and I am the only virtual intern,” Chandra said. “It can be difficult … trying to keep myself in the loop.”
Jillian Degrandt, a junior in the College of Communication, said the video production company in London she is interning with has daily meetings and assigns work through an application called “Trello,” which facilitates communication despite being an ocean apart.
“Everyone can just put in comments on the projects that they’re working on,” Degrandt said. “They’re all super accessible. I can email them at any time and they’ll just get back to me right away.”
While contacting supervisors has been relatively easy, Degrandt said adapting to the six-hour time zone difference between London and Wisconsin — where she currently resides — can be difficult. For instance, she can only attend one of the two daily meetings.
“If you have any questions, you kind of have to use that time right then when you’re online with them, which is only maybe 20 minutes a day,” she said. “It’s really about being prepared and knowing what you need to ask because otherwise you might not get the opportunity for the rest of the day.”
Chandra said she is taking a full load of classes while participating in her internship, which makes navigating the work-study-life balance difficult.
“The best way for me to keep myself not overwhelmed is remember that you’re only supposed to be working like 10 to 15 hours per week,” Chandra said. “I try to only do work when it’s my working hours and when it’s not, I just focus on other things.”
Virtual internships may impede interactions with other employees, but Sylvia Stoyanova, a junior in the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies currently interning at an international think tank company in London, said the opportunities can also be convenient and efficient.
She said she’s able to schedule meetings back-to-back, multi-task and doesn’t have to factor in a commute to work.
“Being virtual has its pros and cons,” Stoyanova said. “You don’t get that interaction in person with someone, but I guess a pro is you have a lot more time.”
Stoyanova said she thinks BU Study Abroad has prepared students well for their internships.
“They’ve done a pretty good job of preparing us in advance,” she said. “They did an orientation. My internship is in London, so they did a lot about British culture.”
Chandra said overall she appreciates the work experience and is happy with her internship thus far.
“If your focus is more to gain work experiences from abroad, I think this will be sufficient,” she said. “I’m really grateful that they provided this opportunity, even though they can’t physically bring people abroad.”
