Using student internship programs as a vehicle to international campus culture transfusion

A. Bagiati, D. Fisher, and S. SarmaMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyWEEF 2012: Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD)

• New, engineering-oriented university in Singapore

• Inaugural cohort of 320 students– First classes on May 7,

2012

• Largest & most holistic transplantation venture of MIT to date

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Challenge of the MIT-SUTD Collaboration:To communicate the academic culture and

mentality of MIT and to diffuse it to the newly established SUTD community.

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Curriculum Development

Faculty Culture

Student Culture

• Student-driven campus• Entrepreneurial• Team-oriented and

collaborative• Whimsical & eccentric

Campus culture and student involvement

• Best communicated within student body

• Interaction with older student cohorts– SUTD upperclassmen do

not exist in inaugural year

• Recruit MIT students as “surrogate upperclassmen”

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THE SINGAPORE LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE

MIT International Science & Technology Initiatives (MISTI)

• Existing MIT program to send current students to internships and study abroad

• Collaborated with MISTI staff to develop new program with campus mentorship component

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Inaugural MISTI-SLI Cohort

• 18 students sent to Singapore in summer 2012– 10 undergraduate &

graduate programs– 6 years of study (freshman

– 2nd year graduate)

• MIT Campus Involvement– Fraternities/sororities,

public service, athletics, arts/music, entrepreneurship

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Internships as a vehicle for exchange• Known benefits of internship programs– Translate classroom knowledge to hands-on

workplace (Valo, 2000)

– Ease transition to workplace post-graduation (Rompelman et al., 2002)

• Existing global initiatives– Erasmus Student Network– Board of European Students of Technology

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POST-DEPARTURE ACTIVITIES

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Summer 2012 student internships

• Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (NUS)• JFDI.Asia Startup Incubator• Duke-NUS Medical Center• SENSEable City Lab• Singapore ASTAR Institute• SUTD Undergraduate Research Assistantships

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SUTD student mentorship

• MISTI-SLI students participated in 8-session “SUTD-MIT Leadership Programme” with 60 SUTD students

• MIT students in participatory leadership roles– 2 MIT & 6-8 SUTD/team

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SUTD-MIT Leadership Programme Outcomes

• Showcase Event– 25+ student groups

presented

• Positive reviews of programme content and organization

• Continued MIT student contact and help with 5th Row projects– MIT students in Singapore

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Summer 2012 challenges

• SUTD student retention in leadership programme

• MIT student self-segregation from SUTD community

• Varying levels of rigor in MIT student internships

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Future Work• Development of comprehensive metrics to

measure achievement of diverse educational outcomes for collaboration activities

• Continued encouragement of MIT-SUTD student communication– Monitor cultural persistence across new SUTD

cohorts• Recruit and train MISTI-SLI 2013 cohort

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Questions?

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AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of the MISTI staff in development and support of the MISTI-SLI program, specifically Chappell Lawson, MISTI Director; Sean Gilbert, MIT-China Managing Director; and Matthew Burt, MIT-Korea Program Manager. In addition, the authors would like to acknowledge Samantha O’Keefe, former Graduate Research Assistant at MIT, and Anine Ward, Senior Administrative Assistant to the MIT-SUTD Collaboration, for their contributions to this project.

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