This month we are fortunate to have a special guest write all the way from our Thailand office: Worldwide Internships’ founder, Daniel Reyes. Since its humble beginning in 2009, Daniel has continuously pushed the team to find innovative strategies to improve the experience for our internship Candidates, as well as for our Team internally. Read on to find out Dan’s next step toward forming part of a tight-knit international community around this concept of service excellence.
Government and Educational Institution’s Regulations and their effects on the International Internships Industry
During my last business trip to Latin America, Europe, and Asia, I saw a new trend. Internship Consultant Agencies (ICA’s) are forming associations to gain strength and be able to speak up on behalf of the students to improve the communication between them, government immigration affairs (embassies), and educational institutions.
One example is a recent modification on the internship visas made by the Spanish government in May, 2019. Without prior notice to universities, host companies, or ICA’s, hundreds of students got stuck at the embassy not knowing about the new regulations. We had to hire an independent law firm to assist us in this matter to be able to process their visas. After this incident, Worldwide Internships and the main ICA’s from Mexico gathered and proposed the creation of the Association of International Educational Internships (Asociación de Prácticas Educativas Internacionales [APEI]), an association dedicated to improve the communication between government affairs, universities, and ICA’s. It is still yet to be established, but the foundations have been set and we expect to start operations by 2020.
A month later, during a recruitment trip in the Philippines, Worldwide Internships was invited to be part of the Alliance of Cultural Exchange Providers in The Philippines (ACEPP). ACEPP was created in June, 2019 under very similar circumstances. The US embassy gathered the main agencies in the country to provide training about J1 Visas and how to align their programs to the Department of State regulations.ACEPP aims to improve the relationship and communication between the embassies, ICAs, universities and Filipino government entities.
Nowadays, a gap still exists between the main entities involved in an international internship. However, the creation of new associations of ICA’s around the world may help us bridge that gap between them. This will benefit the students, allowing them to have more opportunities while complying with the legal and university regulations.
Want to know more about how Worldwide Internships helps to provide the best possible experience for international interns?
Daniel Reyes
Director of Strategy & Innovation
Worldwide Internships
