Posted 8:56 a.m. Friday, Oct. 24, 2014
UW-L Student Affairs Administration program student Noelle Ponasik is an intern at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences in Germany.
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UW-L Student Affairs Administration student Noelle Ponasik is at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences from July 1- Dec. 19. In an article in the German university’s magazine, Ponasik calls Germany her “second homeland.” While earning her bachelor’s degree from UW-Stevens Point, Ponasik spent a semester abroad in Marburg, Germany in 2011 and completed an internship at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany in 2012.[/caption]
Today’s college campuses are international hubs, connecting people from around the world. So professionals working on these campuses need global competence.
That’s why UW-L’s Student Affairs Administration program — a two-year graduate program that prepares students to work in student affairs positions in higher education — sent its first student abroad this year.
UW-L SAA program student Noelle Ponasik is an intern at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences in Germany. Ponasik, who eventually wants to work in higher education in Germany, says she’s paying close attention to the day-to-day operations at Frankfurt-UAS.
“I think that when we look at higher education and student services in other countries, it forces us to critically examine our own services and provides us with new ideas,” says Ponasik.
For instance, Ponasik says German universities don’t offer as many student services to students as U.S. universities.
“While I’m critical of the amount of services institutions of higher education provide in the United States, some of my colleagues in Germany argue their institutions should provide more services for students,” she says.
Ponasik’s internship involves working in student services and academic affairs offices at the university including: the International Office, Central Advising Services, Department of Business and Law and Family Office.
Although Ponasik speaks fluent German, it’s helpful to have a native English speaker on board to help with activities such as orientation for International students and creating English website material, said Friederike Schöfisch, associate director of the International Office, in an article in Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences “Campus Magazin” from March 2014.
“We would gladly have another intern from this master’s program in the future,” notes Schöfisch in the article.
Ponasik’s internship is the result of a long-time partnership between UW-L and Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. The UW System was encouraged to start developing partnerships with universities in Hessen, Germany, where Frankfurt is located, in the late 1990s after a sister-state relationship formed between Hessen and Wisconsin. The partnership was based on a historic relationship between the two states including immigration from Hessen to Wisconsin and a history of trade, according to UW-L’s Office of International Education.
Jodie Rindt, chair of UW-L’s SAA department, says given the success of Ponasik’s internship, the partnership has opened the door for more potential internships at this university, others within the state of Hessen and beyond. She says opening up international exchanges like this better prepare SAA students for the future.
“An internship abroad allows students to learn about student affairs in an international context and enhances their ability to critically examine student affairs and higher education in the U.S. from another perspective,” says Rindt.
UW-L Student Affairs Administration student Noelle Ponasik is at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences from July 1- Dec. 19. In an article in the German university’s magazine, Ponasik calls Germany her “second homeland.” While earning her bachelor’s degree from UW-Stevens Point, Ponasik spent a semester abroad in Marburg, Germany in 2011 and completed an internship at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany in 2012.[/caption]
Today’s college campuses are international hubs, connecting people from around the world. So professionals working on these campuses need global competence.
That’s why UW-L’s Student Affairs Administration program — a two-year graduate program that prepares students to work in student affairs positions in higher education — sent its first student abroad this year.
UW-L SAA program student Noelle Ponasik is an intern at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences in Germany. Ponasik, who eventually wants to work in higher education in Germany, says she’s paying close attention to the day-to-day operations at Frankfurt-UAS.
“I think that when we look at higher education and student services in other countries, it forces us to critically examine our own services and provides us with new ideas,” says Ponasik.
For instance, Ponasik says German universities don’t offer as many student services to students as U.S. universities.
“While I’m critical of the amount of services institutions of higher education provide in the United States, some of my colleagues in Germany argue their institutions should provide more services for students,” she says.
Ponasik’s internship involves working in student services and academic affairs offices at the university including: the International Office, Central Advising Services, Department of Business and Law and Family Office.
Although Ponasik speaks fluent German, it’s helpful to have a native English speaker on board to help with activities such as orientation for International students and creating English website material, said Friederike Schöfisch, associate director of the International Office, in an article in Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences “Campus Magazin” from March 2014.
“We would gladly have another intern from this master’s program in the future,” notes Schöfisch in the article.
Ponasik’s internship is the result of a long-time partnership between UW-L and Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. The UW System was encouraged to start developing partnerships with universities in Hessen, Germany, where Frankfurt is located, in the late 1990s after a sister-state relationship formed between Hessen and Wisconsin. The partnership was based on a historic relationship between the two states including immigration from Hessen to Wisconsin and a history of trade, according to UW-L’s Office of International Education.
Jodie Rindt, chair of UW-L’s SAA department, says given the success of Ponasik’s internship, the partnership has opened the door for more potential internships at this university, others within the state of Hessen and beyond. She says opening up international exchanges like this better prepare SAA students for the future.
“An internship abroad allows students to learn about student affairs in an international context and enhances their ability to critically examine student affairs and higher education in the U.S. from another perspective,” says Rindt.