With a significant contingent of international students, KDI School is constantly looking out for internship opportunities for its students from abroad. In 2016, KDI School was able to create internship programs at Sejong City Hall, Korea Electric Power Corporation Engineering & Construction Company (KEPCO E&C), and Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT). In all, 14 students (seven at Sejong City Hall, two at KEPCO E&C, and five at KODIT) served as interns.

The Globe went out to interview a couple of international students – Edwin GUTIERREZ (2016 MPP, Nicaragua) who interned at KODIT and Grace JOVENA (2016 MDP, the Philippines) who interned at Sejong City Hall – who took part in the internship program.

GRASS:  Can you introduce yourself and the internship program you took part in?

JOVENA:  I am Arian Grace JOVENA (2016 MDP, the Philippines). I interned in the 2016 Sejong City Global Internship Program.

GUTIERREZ:  My name is Edwin GUTIERREZ (2016 MPP, Nicaragua). I took part in the internship program run by KODIT.

GRASS:  Can you please share with readers, the time you started, ended and where you were located?

JOVENA:  I started on August 1, 2016 and my program ended on August 31, 2016. It was a one month, paid internship. I was assigned at the Healthy Family Support Center in Dodam-Dong Community Center. For a month, I reported to that office which is basically an infant and day care facility in the Dodam-dong area of Sejong City.

GUTIERREZ: KODIT Global Internship Program was held between from August 8 to August 17, 2016. I spent one week in KODIT’s headquarters located in Daegu Innovative City. For the remainder of the program, I stayed at the KODIT training center located in Seoul.

GRASS: What was your motivation an interest in joining the program?

JOVENA:  I was curious of what it’s like working in Korea and the work environment overall, so I decided to apply to see it for myself. Also as someone who was working in the City level back in my country, I am very interested to learn the City level governance in Korea, the programs and services and its dynamics.

GUTIERREZ:  I was interested in learning how KODIT works, its work processes, legal framework, working life and all underlying issues about their daily functions. Also I wanted to learn how they help improve the Korean economy.

GRASS: Can you describe the roles you played while you were there?

JOVENA:  Since I was assigned at the Healthy Family Support Center, I dealt with families especially children and their parent/mother. The facility is similar to a daycare or infant care centers where parents where mostly the mothers bring their children to play with them there. I mainly assisted the center’s Head in managing the daily operation of the center such as the cleanliness and order, assisting in preparing the materials during weekly programs for the parents, answering inquiries and looking after the children making sure they are safe and sound while playing.

GUTIERREZ:  As an intern, I had to take lectures and training sessions given by KODIT specialists and consultants. I also attended field trips to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in business with KODIT such as Hanjung NCS, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), and the National Bank of Korea to take lessons and earn practical experiences from those institutions. In addition, I had to prepare a presentation relating to the credit guarantee system development in my home country (Nicaragua) and submit other assignments and tasks set by the internship supervisor.

GRASS: Did you enjoy working with and building relationships with different people?

JOVENA:  As a social worker it is part of my profession to build rapport and relationship with different people and so I’m used to deal with various people from all walks of life. Personally, I am a very social person and so I enjoy working and building relationship with different people.

GUTIERREZ:  Of course I enjoyed every minute because was a good opportunities to create oversea networking and also learn much more about their working culture, their lifestyle and fellowship.

GRASS: What was the main advantage of your program?

JOVENA:  It was the support from the City Hall as well as KDI School. They provided us with detailed information on the City’s governance systems and there were always helpful staff members on both sides waiting to help.

GUTIERREZ:  All the activities of my internship were correlated with the knowledge I learnt in classrooms. Since I had taken a course that was related to finance and sustainable development which covered how different industries, with the support from the credit guarantee system by KODIT, can help overcome financial crises and economic problems, I was glad to see it in action from up-close.

GRASS: Do you have any fond memories to share with readers?

JOVENA:  Though the children and I could barely understand one another because of the language barrier, we were able to build special bonds with each other. I will really truly cherish those moments.

GUTIERREZ:  Our meeting with the Head of KODIT was memorable to me. He encouraged us to be confident to talk to him about the economic situation of our respective countries. We also talked about which kind of financial and monetary policies they can use if our countries were to develop any kind of system similar to the Korean Credit and Guarantee System to help SMEs.
Based on the resounding success this year, KDI School plans to seek additional internship programs with other partner organizations in the following years.

By Marian GRASS [2015 MPP, Egypt]