Students who do study abroad often don't consider that some of these programs can incorporate an internship into the program. We've had many students do the Dublin Parliamentary Internship, and Seth did a similar program in Australia:
Study Abroad IES Direct Enrollment University of Melbourne Parliamentary Internship
While studying abroad at the University of Melbourne last semester, I participated in an internship there at the Victoria State Parliament and Professor O’Neil suggested I share my thoughts in case any of you are looking at internships abroad, especially in Melbourne.
I found that the Parliamentary Internship was worthwhile, both as a political internship and as a study abroad experience. The internship involved being paired with a member of the Victoria State Parliament and working with them to do a research paper of interest to both you and your MP. As well, there are courses held about once a week at Parliament House by instructors from the University of Melbourne and surrounding universities.
The direct engagement with the parliament is very valuable from a comparative politics perspective, as I became intimate with the particulars of a parliamentary system in general and the Westminster System at the state level specifically.
My MP, Carlo Carli, was a member of the lower house, the Legislative Assembly, from the district of Brunswick, part of the inner north suburb of Melbourne, Moreland. The research topics of my peers enrolled in the internship were on a great range of topics. My research for Carli dealt with determining the factors that contributed to the preservation of the Merri Creek, a creek which runs through the inner northern suburbs and was intended to be turned into a freeway in the 1970s but now is protected by community groups and is largely seen as a community asset. The research allowed me to utilize skills I had gained in my study of politics and government at UPS, while interacting with key political actors in the area and gaining new experience in complicated workings of local politics.
I found the internship to be one of the best educational experiences I could have while studying abroad. My ability to succeed at the internship was comprised in little to no amount by my being a foreigner and taking part in it caused no major logistical difficulties. For me, it was a practical way to get both a positive study abroad experience that I wanted and a internship experience that I felt as necessary, without sacrificing from either experience.
-Seth B. Doherty
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