NEWS
Internships create greater ties between Australia and Korea
Four RMIT journalism students have received travel scholarships to take part in internships in Korea in 2016, thanks to a $20,000 grant from the Australia Korea Foundation (AKF).
RMIT has now sent more than 20 students on journalism internships to Korea, with graduates of the program going on to work in Australia’s major news outlets.
Third year Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) student Caterina Hrysomallis recently returned from Seoul, where she interned at JoongAng Daily.
The 20-year-old from Bentleigh East was one of four students chosen to go to Seoul after a highly competitive selection process.
Hrysomallis said the experience was very valuable in the development of her professional skills.
She was delighted to discover how open the newspaper was to her pitches and that there was genuine eagerness for her to write an opinion piece.
“I have refined my pitching process and interview skills greatly and focus on delivering to multiple audiences such as English-proficient Koreans, locally and abroad, expats living in Seoul and those interested in Korea overseas," Hrysomalis said
“Adapting to a different set of priorities and cultural values writing for a newspaper overseas has been interesting and gives me confidence going into other publications.”
Coordinator of the Journalism Professional Placement Course at RMIT, Alex Wake, said international internships added an extra dimension to the students' work integrated learning.
“We are so thankful for our long association with the Australia Korea Foundation," Wake said.
"If we did not have this financial support we would not be able to continue this important program.
“Each year the popularity of Korea as a destination for journalism students increases.
"It’s so wonderful to see that the students can not only provide some good stories for the international news organisations, but they also come home having learned so much professionally and personally."
Three more students are doing internships in Korea in June and July. They are Nathan Brown at JoongAng Daily, Sabrina Woodward at the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) and Ellen Seah at This Morning eFM.
Story: Wendy Little