IAESTE Annual Review 2018

to be created consciously with career progression in mind. Additionally,
IAESTE internships are rather short-term assignments and the interns spend
also a significant amount of time on social activities with other interns and
local volunteers.
Conclusion
It’s important to mention that the choices of method and sample size
indicate that the aim of this study is not a statistical generalization.
Instead, this study aimed to give further insight about the IAESTE exchange
programme and its benefits and also invited IAESTE alumni to reflect on
their experience through the career development potential perspective.
The main findings of the study indicate that international experience
has a strong developmental effect on career capital and competencies
necessary to work in the international environment, which will definitely
enable our Alumni to implement IAESTE’s 70 year old mission - to promote
international understanding, cooperation and trust among students,
academic institutions, employers and the wider community.
The results of this research have been also presented during the poster fair:
Assessment and Evaluation in International Education, at NAFSA 2018
conference, Philadelphia, USA.
References:
S. Arabiat, B. Baeyens, O. Legacka, Internationalisation and the Enrichment of University Curricular
Through the IAESTE Exchange Programme, Internationalisation of Higher Education. EAIE
Handbook, Volume no. 3, 2013
M. A. Shaffer, M. L. Kraimer, Yu-Ping Chen, M. C. Bolino, Choices, Challenges, and Career
Consequences of Globa,l Work Experiences: A Review and Future Agenda, Journal of
Management, Vol. 38 No. 4, July 2012
T. Jokinen, Development of Career Capital Through International Assignments and Its Transferability
to New Contexts, Thunderbird International Business Review Vol. 52, No. 4 July/August 2010
Chart 5: Knowing WHOM - building the social relationship is a strong aspect
of IAESTE internship
It really changed my life :)
It helped me to focus on a
specific career path and gave
me basic knowledge required
to follow that path
Specialist from Poland
Traineeship in Mexico (2010)
and Spain (2011)
I suppose I was not mature
enough for the professional
aspect of my internships, but
the whole experience and
managing my way through all
of them has made me realise
what I want to do in life as a
professional, but also socially
in the same area. I had a
very exponential growth in
my career and have a lot of
responsibilities that I wouldn’t
be able to work on it I hadn’t
had my IAESTE experience
Specialist from F.Y.R. Macedona
Traineeship in Poland (2007), Spain (2008)
and Austria (2009)
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IAESTE Annual Review 2018