With Liberal Arts education, Fulbright always encourages students to boldly pursue diverse opportunities and experiences. This approach enhances students’s understanding, self-discovery, and equips them with solid foundations for future career development. Departments at Fulbright have initiated numerous internship programs, providing opportunities for students from various fields to engage and learn in practical environments, including:
- Venture Fellowship Program (VFP)
- Social Impact Fellowship Program (SIFP)
- Industry Lab
All internship programs share a common goal of bringing students closer to businesses, providing opportunities for direct work experience in practical environments early on. Simultaneously, Fulbright always offers training and specialized education programs to equip students with robust knowledge and skills. Advisors and guides closely accompany to support students in each stage, ensuring a comprehensive internship experience.
Venture Fellowship Program
The Venture Fellowship Program (VFP) is an initiative of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) at Fulbright. Launched for the first time in April 2020 and organized annually, it is a start-up internship training program, providing learning and working opportunities during the summer internship for Fulbright students at leading technology and start-up companies in Vietnam. VFP has four main objectives:
- Help students orient their career development, build a realistic perspective through projects at real start-ups.
- Provide start-ups with a source of talented students willing to try their hands in various fields.
- Offer a professional training path and support students in each stage before, during, and after the internship.
- Establish and develop a network of partners, mentors, and companions for Fulbright students to enhance self-learning and individual development.
After over three years of operation, the program has brought students to intern at major partner companies both domestically and internationally, including VNG, CoderSchool, EnCapital, Ru9, JobHopin, and ReactorSchool. Particularly, the Venture Fellowship Program 2023 has connected and provided opportunities for students to intern 100% at start-ups in Singapore.
Phùng Hữu Nguyên, a student of the 2022-2026 cohort, interned at Happily Ever After, a start-up network focusing on health training and nurturing happiness. Nguyên was supported by Fulbright and the company for a 20-day internship in Singapore to experience the working environment directly. “I interned at a young start-up, so I not only did the job of a Marketing Intern but also had the opportunity to experience many other positions. Besides the dynamism, I also witnessed the real ‘messy’ of a start-up. From this, I appreciate even more the values that interdisciplinary thinking at Fulbright has brought. After more than a year of studying at Fulbright, I have become familiar with adapting to changes and honing problem-solving skills. This quickly helped me adapt to the working environment at Happily Ever After,” Nguyên shares.
After work, Fulbright students traveled from Singapore to Malaysia to enjoy some unwind time.
Social Impact Fellows Program
The Social Impact Fellows Program is organized by the Career Services Department, aiming to connect students actively involved in community activities with a network of partner organizations nationwide. In addition to supporting professional development and training, SIFP stands out with a financial support program for students. While financial rewards play a crucial role for students to balance financial factors with their passion, social enterprises often face budget constraints.
To help partners reduce the burden and support students on the path to pursue meaningful values, SIFP has developed a financial support program for students. This financial aid comes from the school’s budget, partners, or a combination of both organizations. This creates conditions for many students to be motivated to explore career opportunities fairly, without placing heavy financial burdens on themselves.
In two years of operation, SIFP has successfully connected 32 students with meaningful organizations and projects, helping students fulfill their mission of community service. At the same time, these are valuable opportunities for students to enrich and accumulate knowledge and experience for themselves.
Trần Thảo Nguyên, a student of the 2020-2024 cohort and a participant in the SIFP program at Fauna & Flora International (Hanoi), enthusiastically shared her experience: “For me, the most valuable experience SIFP brings is the opportunity to immerse myself in a professional working environment on a global scale, learning and applying practical knowledge directly to daily work in Vietnam.”
Thanks to the internship program, Lê Hoàng Phúc, a student of the 2023 cohort majoring in Computer Science, discovered a “playground” to realize his passion.
Thanks to the internship opportunity at Fauna & Flora International, Lê Hoàng Phúc, a student of the 2023 cohort majoring in Computer Science, discovered a “playground” to realize his passion. At Fauna & Flora, Phúc realized that applying technology to nature conservation is a relatively new topic in Vietnam. From there, Hoàng Phúc decided to develop the VNTurtle project – a smart application using computer vision to help users identify 26 endangered native turtle species due to illegal hunting and trading. This project helped Phúc win the TPBank STEM scholarship awarded to Fulbright students with excellent academic achievements to realize highly feasible scientific research projects serving the community.
Industry Lab
Industry Lab is also an internship program organized by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) at Fulbright University Vietnam. Although it is the “youngest” program having just completed one season, Industry Lab has gained great attention with its innovative model and professional organization process.
This is where students have the opportunity to collaborate and work directly with businesses for 3 weeks or 3 months. Students will solve lingering problems in businesses with innovative and highly applicable solutions for enterprises.
The first Industry Lab welcomed the participation of 11 students, divided into 2 groups. Each group was responsible for a challenge, including:
- Enhancing the customer experience when shopping for and using men’s shirts from May10.
- Developing marketing activities to increase awareness and interest of Generation Z in sustainable fashion products from Uniqlo in Ho Chi Minh City.
Students had the opportunity to meet and work directly with leaders and managers representing May10 and Uniqlo. Students also received enthusiastic support, training, and guidance from industry experts. From there, students were equipped with specific knowledge about the brand and marketing in the fashion industry, along with practical tools to delve into and analyze the market, conduct field research and customer surveys, generate ideas, and test potential solutions to “solve” the challenges set by Uniqlo and May10.
Students had the opportunity to meet and work directly with leaders and managers representing May10 and Uniqlo for the Industry Lab.
Thiện Toàn, a student of the 2022-2026 cohort, recalled valuable experiences and lessons after participating in Industry Lab for 3 weeks: “Industry Lab has helped me develop quick adaptability. In just 3 weeks, I had to work with new teammates, with little knowledge about Uniqlo or fashion in general, and even less experience in Marketing. All the knowledge and skills I had to constantly improve and adapt to analyze and find ideas with my teammates. In an era where everything is constantly changing, adaptability is a crucial factor. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to experience and learn this lesson early on to prepare for the future.