Through our Excite – Engage – Empower: Career Advancement 360 approach, we aim to help you maximize your internship experience both professionally and personally while earning credit. To do so, we have created a comprehensive online course with expert advice, content, and mentorship to take you to the next level.

You can earn between 3-12 credits through our partnership with Jacksonville University. This credit will be reflected as JU 390 – Working Across Cultures Global Internship on your official Jacksonville University transcript, as well as the range of credits available. Most interns select the 3 or 6 credit options. Interns who need 9 to 12 credits must be enrolled in a 12 – 16 week long program to meet the necessary contact hours.

By enrolling in this asynchronous, online course for credit, coupled with your internships hours, you will be exposed to what it means to work internationally and across cultures, while simultaneously having the opportunity to reflect on how your experiences on-site connect with the theory behind intercultural communication and leadership. Though the curriculum is online, your CIS professor will be actively involved with you through direct messaging. They will be there to support you in every step of your journey including keeping you on track with your assignments. By taking this course, you will leave your internship #careerready!

Excite – Engage – Empower: Career Advancement 360

Excite

Through exploratory reflection exercises your professor will help you identify your current strengths, skills, and abilities, as well as your career goals and internship objectives. By helping you understand how your cross-cultural internship experience will impact your future, you will be motivated to make the most of your placement opportunities.

Engage

Together, your CIS professor and onsite directors will help you create a plan that will ensure you use your internship as a springboard for making your future dreams a reality. Through online facilitated challenges and reflection, as well as our onsite Local Life cultural co-curriculum, you will gain insights into your potential career field, apply in-class learning to real-world projects, and deepen your understanding of what it means to be interculturally fluent – in alignment with your career and personal development goals.

Empower

The last day of the internship doesn’t mean the end of the career journey! This final stage involves planning for the future – and empowering you to convert your career dreams into realities. With a focus on reflection, utilizing feedback, and identifying concrete action plans, this CIS Abroad course provides you with the tools and support to set you up for future success. And by automatically earning a micro-credential associated with this program, you can share your achievement with your social network and potential employers.

JU 390 Working Across Cultures Global Internship

Program Overview:

The introductory sections of this 10-module course outlines what to expect from your experience, including recommendations on how to get the most from the internship as well as advice from past interns.

In the next few modules we will explore the concept of culture. While we are familiar with our own culture, what happens when we shift across cultures and the rules suddenly seem to change? In order for you to successfully navigate cultural differences, both internationally as well as domestically, you need to have an understanding of what culture is, how it affects your interactions with others, and what skills you must develop in order to be a successful intercultural leader.

Towards the end of your program, you will focus on building your digital brand, including developing an “elevator pitch” based on your internship outcomes as well as establishing a LinkedIn presence where you will start to make professional connections, including your current international colleagues.

At the end of your journey, you will be able to clearly articulate your experience in a variety of interview situations. Your professor will help you map out the next steps in your career path, including creating a final deliverable for your portfolio which represents the outcomes/results of your internship. You will also automatically earn a Working Across Cultures micro-credential to display on social media and your resume.

The Local Life Cultural Co-Curriculum:

Simultaneously with your internship and online course, you will be exploring your new host culture and furthering your cross-cultural competence by participating in the Local Life. CIS onsite staff will serve as mentors and cultural mediators, challenging you to dive deeper into what it means to be culturally aware through a combination of high-energy group activities and focused cultural encounters. You will engage with your fellow students as well as the local community while developing a greater awareness of what it means to be a global citizen.

Program Outcomes

As a result of their internship experience, and in combination with the program curriculum, you will:

• Be able to apply your academic learning to practical experiences.
• Have explored, examined, and clarified career goals.
• Understand your future career within a global/intercultural context.
• Identify the nuances associated with and develop a level of competence regarding working in a cross-cultural context.
• Gain practical skills and create an international network of contacts that can be applied toward your future career.
• Demonstrate an appreciation of and open-mindedness toward other cultures.
• Display an understanding of values, beliefs, traditions, and perspectives different from your own.
• Be better able to approach life with a higher degree of adaptability, resilience, independence, and self-confidence.
• Demonstrate the ability to think critically, solve complex problems, and cope effectively with ambiguous and unfamiliar situations.