Student Government (SG) proposed AUBG offices provide students with internship positions. Journalism and Mass Communication is the only major that requires the completion of an internship, but professional experience is an advantage on the job market for students majoring in any other discipline.

SG Chair Daniyar Abenov, who will draft the official proposal, said that many details concerning the project are yet to be specified. However, there will certainly be a clear distinction between work-studies and internships. Presently AUBG offers semester-long work-study positions at some offices. Full-time students may complete up to 360 work hours a year at a payment of $1 to $2 per hour. If the proposal passes, the type of positions will depend on the needs of the offices.

Daniyar Abenov explained that the first step towards implementing the project will be investigating the interest of students in the idea. Then, the SG will have to submit an official proposal to the university administration. Dean Krise said that internships can become a part of the academic curriculum only after the Faculty Assembly accepts the proposal. Although there is a long way to go before internships are officially adopted as a practice at AUBG, Abenov was optimistic about carrying out the process by the end of the next academic year.

“Internships in the offices will be useful for future careers if they are serious internships where they [the students] are doing actual appropriate work, not just work-study positions, where they’re photocopying and filing,” Dean of Students Lydia Krise said. She pointed out the current internship of Kristina Ann Zahn at the Office of Student Services as a positive example of what such an experience should include.

Zahn is an exchange student from the Univeristy of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is now doing a three-month internship at AUBG alongside her regular courses. One of the academic requirements at her home university is to complete 160 hours of work in order to finish her studies in Journalism and Mass Communication and Global Communication. As part of her internship position at the Student Services office, Zahn had to create a portfolio of promotional and informational materials about the Study Abroad program. AUBG will give these out to international students and forward them to other American universities. “It was really my first taste of a professional position. It’s a wonderful experience,” Zahn said.

This is the general format that internships at AUBG will have. The SG has not decided upon their financial dimensions. There is a possibility that internships might be paid, and they will most probably be worth credit hours.