4 June 2010 Internship opportunities expand for Lincoln students

Christchurch tourism and hospitality enterprises are getting behind on-the-job internships for Lincoln University students.

It started last year with a 12-week internship offered by Christchurch’s award-winning International Antarctic Centre. Sport and Recreation Management degree student Marie Calder, a past pupil of Villa Maria College majoring in Tourism Management, was the inaugural intern. Now two other internships are being offered in addition to a placement again at the International Antarctic Centre.

“The two new internships will be available at other tourism or hospitality businesses in Canterbury,” says the Dean of Lincoln University’s Faculty of Environment, Society and Design, Dr Greg Ryan.

“In each case the successful student will work in a number of different areas of the business over a 12-week period and gain experience that will undoubtedly help them obtain fulltime work in the tourism or hospitality industries once they have graduated.

“These are fully paid internships in which the students will be expected to work full time for the duration of the contract.

“We are delighted that industry operators appreciate the benefit of providing internship opportunities for our students who are doing degrees relevant to their business.”

The Manager of the Internship programme for the University, Ray Sleeman, says that to provide a good breadth of options for internship applicants, he is still keen to hear from Canterbury tourism and hospitality businesses who would like to offer placements for Lincoln University students majoring in Tourism Management or Hotel Management. He can be contacted through the University.

“It is a two-way, win-win situation,” says Mr Sleeman. “As Maree Calder said of her placement last year: ‘The internship gave me experience in the real world to match the theory being learnt through my degree studies. It gave me a nice mix of the two.’ And as the Director of the Antarctic Centre, Richard Benton said: ‘The internship concept is an exciting step for the Centre. To contribute to the education and career development of the on-coming generation gives us much pleasure.  There was also an immediate pay-off because not only did we have the intern as part of our work team but under the arrangement the intern provided a report and that gave us an insight into how others see us, which is useful for our own development’.”

The three internships to be awarded in 2010 are open to students at Lincoln University who are enrolled in the Bachelor of Tourism Management programme, the Bachelor of Commerce - Hotel Management major, or any students taking a Tourism Management major within a Lincoln University degree.

Full details of the internships and information about the application process are available on the Lincoln University web site -  www.lincoln.ac.nz  -   under Studying at Lincoln, then click on Scholarships. Intending applicants can register their interest now with the University. There will be an information session at the end of July and formal applications close on 20 August.