During the 2024 summer season, a group of students from the American University Kyiv traveled to the United States and the United Kingdom as the first cohort of the AUK Global Internship Program. This new initiative is the brainchild of AUK President Dan Rice. It offers young Ukrainians the opportunity to undertake paid internships at a range of participating American and international companies, allowing them to gain valuable professional experience. It is also hoped that the program will lead to enhanced future career prospects following graduation.
The AUK Global Internship Program first began to take shape in early 2024. Like much else associated with the American University Kyiv, which was launched on the eve of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, progress was swift. AUK President Dan Rice recalls being extremely encouraged by the initial response from potential hosts, with a number of high profile companies signing up to participate in the inaugural summer program.
With most military age Ukrainian men unable to travel internationally due to wartime martial law restrictions currently in place in the country, a total of eighteen female AUK students flew the flag for Ukraine at companies in the United States and the United Kingdom this year. Summer salary for participating students averaged $18,000 for ten weeks work with all expenses paid, including flights and housing. However, the real benefit of the program came from the unique insights they were able to gain into American business culture.
AUK business administration undergraduate student Angelina Marusych describes her experience interning at JPMorgan in New York as “just astounding” and says it has given her fresh perspective into the realities of the corporate world. “I am sure that such internship opportunities will open many doors in the future and educate new leaders of Ukraine,” she comments.
Fellow AUK Global Internship Program participant and software engineering Master’s student Ksenia Piskun says the benefits of her time interning as a software engineer at Casey’s General Stores headquarters in Iowa went far beyond the practical advantages of adding to her technical skills. “I had the chance to work with some incredibly talented and supportive people who helped me grow both professionally and personally. The collaborative environment made it easy to form meaningful connections,” she reflects. “Living in the Midwest, especially in such a beautiful state, gave me a whole new perspective on life here. It’s something I’ll carry with me forever.”
In addition to their individual internships, students were also able to participate in a range of group visits to American businesses, institutions, and government agencies including the New York Stock Exchange, the US Department of State, and the Pentagon. Global management student Sofiia Hordiienko says the opportunity to immerse herself in American culture was one of the highlights of her internship experience. She notes that visits to the White House and Pentagon “gave us a deeper understanding of how America operates and reinforced the support we feel here.”
Based on the positive reaction to this year’s inaugural round of internships, AUK President Dan Rice says he is now confident the program will expand further in the coming year, with additional companies on board in the United States and in other countries including the United Kingdom and Poland. This will create significantly more internship places for AUK students. “The feedback from corporate sponsors has been incredible, and all told me that their employees value the effort to bring these young women to the United States and give them a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he comments.
For participating companies, the AUK Global Internship Program represents a chance to interact with Ukrainian students at a time when the country is frequently in the global headlines but still emerging from decades of relative international obscurity. This summer’s internships allowed AUK students “to further their professional growth while also educating our colleagues on Ukraine and its culture,” says Joseph Lohrer, Head of US Retail Sales for Blackstone Private Wealth Solutions. “Their fresh outlook added a profound element to their time in our New York office.”
Host companies have also been generous in their praise for the professional contributions made by AUK students during their time in the US this summer. “The interns from the American University Kyiv are active contributors across multiple departments including IT, finance, human resources, and market research,” says TJ Lintz, Head of Human Resources for Doka USA. “Their involvement has brought new energy and innovative ideas to our projects. We are beyond grateful for their effort.”
AUK President Dan Rice believes the university’s internship program can help equip students with the skill set they require to excel in their future careers. He notes that many of this year’s interns are already planning on returning next year, and says the target for 2025 is 200 paid internships abroad. Eventually, the aim is for the Global Internship Program to be available to every student as a primary pillar of the AUK experience. Rice says this will help ensure that all AUK graduates have multiple employment offers in Ukraine from international corporations.
The AUK Global Internship Program is a new innovation for Ukraine’s higher education sector that is unlike anything else currently on offer to the country’s student community. In that sense, it reflects the recently established university’s ambitions to play a prominent role in Ukraine’s recovery and growth. “We see the internship program as a great way to instill leadership,” says Rice. “This fits with our goal as an educational institution to produce the next generation of Ukrainian leaders.”