A multi-year partnership between Queen’s and the University of Cape Town (UCT) provides internships with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or community-based organizations for up to five undergraduate and two master’s students from Queen’s each year.

In addition, four UCT graduate students over four years will spend a term at Queen’s for independent study, curriculum development and internship work with NGOs in the Kingston community. And Queen’s and UCT will focus on Aboriginal rights and reconciliation via web seminars and social media.

“This partnership will open up exciting internship opportunities for our students and will also allow Queen’s faculty to strengthen their working relationships with colleagues at UCT,” says Marc Epprecht, acting head of Queen’s Global Development Studies (DEVS).

The new program enhances the work-study option that is currently available for upper-year undergraduate DEVS students. And master’s students from both DEVS and its cognate departments can enrich their studies with a field work experience to develop their original research into a thesis.

Dr. Epprecht expects a two-way flow of ideas between the two universities and looks forward to welcoming African students to Queen’s.

“Having UCT students come here will enrich the dynamic within our department and support our original vision of having international students walking our halls and visiting our classrooms to share their projects,” he says.

The multi-year partnership in global development studies has received the support of the Students for Development (SFD) program that is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and managed by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

SFD has supported upper-year Canadian university students’ participation in internships in developing countries and emerging economies since 2005. Selena Zhang, a fourth-year DEVS student, interned with Cape Town’s municipal government last year as part of the SFD program.

The program expanded this year to support internships in Canada for students from developing countries and networking activities that connect university students in Canada with peers in other countries.

“This exciting project builds on the program of institutional cooperation between Queen’s and the University of Cape Town, which started formally with a memorandum of understanding in 2002, and was followed by a student/faculty exchange between our respective faculties of law. Queen’s faculty members in many disciplines have research links with their counterparts at the University of Cape Town,” says Vice-Provost (International) John Dixon.

The response from Queen’s students has been positive, according to Dr. Epprecht, and master’s students may travel to Cape Town as early as this summer.

For more information about the partnership and the application process, visit the DEVS website.