Co-Operative Education Opportunities Launch for Fall 2012
After several years of community engagement program development, the Umbra Institute is proud to announce Co-Operative Education Opportunities (Co-Ops) with local businesses in and around Perugia. Created in response to growing demand for international work experience, the Co-Ops allow students to spend an entire semester living abroad while participating in a full-time, compensated internship for an Italian employer. These community partners and Co-Op employers range from large hotels, restaurants, a leading global engineering firm, libraries, museums, local city administration, a regional online media outlet, and the Institute itself. Please visit the listing of Co-Op Partners for details on the eight internship placements available.
The first Co-Op participant will be Anthony Savvides, an undergraduate studying journalism and sociology at Northeastern University in Boston. Anthony will spend July and August studying Italian language at the Universita per Stranieri di Perugia, one of the foremost institutions of Italian language in the country. In September, he will transfer to Spoleto, another town in the central region of Umbria about 45 minutes from Perugia, to begin a full-time employment with Tuttoggi.info. Tuttoggi is one of the region’s largest online newspapers and a part of the SynErgo online communications company.
While half of the Co-Op placements available are open also to students with no Italian language background, at least an intermediate proficiency of Italian will open the door to greater opportunities for collaboration and enhance the work experiences. Students are strongly encouraged by employers to first study for a semester at the Umbra Institute before beginning the Co-Op, both for the sake of language learning but also to acclimate to the local Italian culture prior to entering an Italian workplace.
To apply, students should email a cover letter specifying the top two placement choices and a current resume to Mauro Renna (mrenna at umbra.org), Co-Coordinator for Community Engagement, by these application deadlines. Please note that students who will study abroad for a semester at the Umbra Institute before the Co-Op internship must finalize internship placement details and acceptance before the start of the study abroad semester begins. All Co-Op applications must be received directly by the Umbra Institute. Please visit our program page for cost and compensation details . All Co-Op participants will have housing arranged by the Umbra Institute in shared apartments with local students.