BLOG ARTICLE:

GLOBAL VIRTUAL INTERNSHIP

SPRING 2021

April 25, 2021

What challenges affect our lives most
in an ever-increasingly globalized environment?

In partnership with the Global Learning Collective team, we developed the 1st Global Virtual Internship Program!

Students

Universities

Companies

UN's Sustainable Development Goals

Welcoming 32 students from over 10 different countries and over 11 different universities to work virtually with 5 companies to promote tangible solutions on multiple problem-based projects related to the United Nations SDGs in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America.

THE SOLUTION

By means of a global strategic partnership, we developed a Global Virtual Internship with 5 companies: Demeter (Europe), Eaton (Asia), Habitat for Humanity (Asia), Sustainability Institute (Africa) and Raízs (South America).

Composed of global multidisciplinary teams, they worked with companies to develop new policies, present ideas, and explore strategies to propel global leaders and companies towards achieving the SDGs. During the internship experience, students met weekly with the partner organization, attended sessions with team mentors for feedback and support, participated in a variety of cross-cultural activities and traveled virtually for regional cultural engagements.

"As Faculty Lead, my role was to provide intern support by offering participants a virtual orientation to the academic foundations of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and guide student project development. I was thoroughly impressed by the design of the program and the engagement of the students from over 10 different countries, all working collaboratively to tackle real-world projects and contribute. After participating in the program, I'm more hopeful than even that we can achieve a sustainable future for all."

Jessica Thomas

Assistant Professor and Director of the Business Sustainability Collaborative at NC State’s Poole College of Management.

Project-based learning
with real company partners

Immersive learning experience

Small diverse teams

This global virtual internship program involved students from 11 universities across 4 global regions: North America (Texas A&M University-Texarkana,University of Southern California, and Lehigh University) Africa (Varsity College, South African College of Applied Psychology, and Stellenbosch University) Asia (Beijing Foreign Student University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University) Europe (University of Sheffield) and South America (ESPM and Mackenzie Presbyterian University) with the main objective of solving real-world organizational challenges to the UN SDGs (#2: Zero Hunger, #3 Good Health and Well-Being, #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities & #12 Responsible Consumption and Production).

In addition to company interactions, we had the expertise of Jessica Yinka Thomas acting as the Faculty Lead of the program, providing support and guidance to the students throughout their project development, in addition to local mentorship from the following mentors: Cornelia Hack and Sam Soudai (European team), Marcus Nakagawa, (South American team), Barry Rawlings (African team), and Paul van Brenkelen and John Storm, (Asian team), that offered great insights and were able to support our global network and help our students to find a tangible solution for each company.