|  Within
the broad range of educational opportunities at home and abroad,
work internships provide one of the best ways to learn about the
job you hope to have. An internship will acquaint you, in a practical
way, with the career options in your field of study and offer
first-hand opportunities to test your knowledge and examine your
career plans.
The traditional view of business education for
both students and professionals is under the microscope as business
schools and companies world-wide look for the most effective ways
to train people to work in today's global markets. The traditional
BBA or business major or MBA program alone cannot fully prepare
you for what you will face on-the-job. International business
skills and second language competency are now a necessity.
don Quijote, offers you the opportunity to gain
real-life experience abroad. You will experience for yourself
the very different Spanish business protocols, learn to do business
in a completely different culture, and gain fluency in both formal
Spanish/Castellano as well as local and profession-specific jargon.
These are factors which may well mean the difference between business
success and failure.
Objectives of the Internship Program:
The principle objective of the combined language and internship
program are two-fold.
-
To promote acquisition of high-level Spanish
language skills and
-
to provide candidates with professional
working experience in a full immersion Spanish-speaking environment.
Another feature of our program is highly important:
to provide students the most realistic
experience possible. All aspects of the program are real-life.
Entrance requirements are high and each step is competitive with
high levels of performance expected.
Structure of the Program:
The Internship Program consists of 3 phases:
- 1st:
minimum of 6 weeks of Intensive Spanish Language.
- 2nd:
the professional Orientation course.
- 3rd:
the internship placement, lasting 3 months.
I Part - The Language Study/Refresher Course:
The length of the Spanish-language portion will
depend on your starting point and how quickly you can acquire
the needed fluency. Written skills test and additional ones will
be used to monitor your progress administered to judge readiness
for the work period. In order to qualify for the internship placement,
you must have a high intermediate
level of fluency. The minimum length for the Spanish Course
is 6 weeks: it is available in all don Quijote schools: Salamanca,
Madrid, Granada, Sevilla, Barcelona, Tenerife and Valencia.
II Part - Professional Orientation
Course:
The professional orientation portion takes place
in Madrid or Barcelona to facilitate placement interviews. It
is a 2 week course aimed at learning about the Spanish business
world. Having a working knowledge of business argot is an important
step towards success in the interview and work phases: this is
why both the language study and the professional orientation courses
are required before work placement. You can choose among the following
dates in Madrid and Barcelona:
Starting dates for 2 weeks Professional Orientation
course (2 hours/day, 2 weeks)
dQ Madrid: 6/1, 24/2, 24/3,
5/5, 16/6, 21/7, 18/8, 29/9, 3/11
dQ Barcelona: 6/1, 3/2, 3/3,
7/4, 5/5, 2/6, 7/7, 4/8, 1/9, 29/9, 27/10, 24/11
III Part - The Internship
Period:
don Quijote offers professional practice internships
in private sector companies, governmental organizations, NGO's,
schools, colleges and universities. The work period will be of
3 months. It may be possible to extend the placement if both the
employer/sponsor and the intern are in agreement and if there
are no legal considerations that would discourage the extension.
Placement is made and progress monitored through our program office
in Madrid. The internship portion of the program may
not combine different companies or different cities.
Company Assignment:
The most important factor is language skills:
the more limited the student's language abilities, the flexible
he/she will have to be in terms of placements. We try very hard
to match the student's educational background, professional experience
and professional plans, to the internship placement. We contact
the student (by e-mail or in person in Madrid) with one or more
possibilities in order of preference. This helps us ensure appropriate
placement. The interviews can take place during the time the student
is studying (usually during the Professional Orientation course).
Minimum required
Spanish level: Intermediary - high.
For accommodation and prices, please check with
us. |
