As summer term begins this week, more students than ever before are getting credit for their internships abroad. The International Internship Program (IIP) is helping facilitate these global professional experiences for 97 UW-Madison students this summer. Of these students, 77 will be earning academic credit through the Worldwide Internship Program course, which is an unprecedented 45% increase from last year.
Many of the students receiving credit for their internships are going abroad on cultivated opportunities, which are developed exclusively for UW-Madison students through IIP staff. These internships often have either a UW or Wisconsin connection that may be through faculty or staff, alumni or community members.
The top destinations for international internships in 2017-18 were Japan, Germany, Uganda, Nepal and Ecuador with new destinations including Slovakia, Belgium and Oman. In fact, every region outside of the U.S. experienced an increase in UW interns this academic year including a 400% increase in the Middle East (4 students, up from zero) and a 32% increase in Latin America(25 students, up from 19).
A majority of the students received scholarships or grants from both IIP and from different partners on campus to help pay for these experiences. For cultivated internships, all summer students received a $500 grant while others received an additional $750 need-based grant to help offset some of the expenses. Additionally, IIP teams up with various area students offices within the Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS) to collaborate on funding for these professional international experiences. These offices included the African Studies Program (ASP), Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies (LACIS) and Center for South Asia (CSA).
