Korea-related Internship Program

(In association with the Matheson Library, local companies and associations, and Monash University Korea Studies)

Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub has established Korea-related internships as part of Monash University Korean Studies’ commitment to giving our students a head start into the job market. Our partners offering the internships include the Matheson library at Monash University, as well as local businesses and associations that will help our students develop their vocational skills. Monash Korean Studies also offers teaching assistant positions to students in the Korean Studies Department which provides the students with valuable pedagogical experience. Since the establishment of the program in 2018, Monash Korean Studies has established over twenty internship and teaching assistant positions for our Korean Studies students (as of October 2020).

Monash Korean Studies welcomes inquiries from an industry and/or community partners who are interested in hosting student placements. Please contact us for further information about the program.

Student internships

Monash University Korean Studies supports student internships in two main ways. First, we directly source and fund internships for our own Korean Studies students. Over the past seven years, we have directly sourced and funded Korea-related internships at the following workplaces:

• The Matheson Library at Monash University
• Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Melbourne
• AKBC (Australia-Korea Business Council)
• MUKSRH (Monash University Korean Studies Research Hub) Website Management
• NU28
• Facial Harmony Skin & Dental

Monash University Korean Studies also sources Korea-related placements for students majoring in Korean through the Monash Work Integrated Learning (WIL)/ Monash Industry Team (MIT) program. While undergoing this internship, the students work directly with Korea-related industry and community partners in an authentic professional workplace.

Our industry and community partners include but are not limited to:

• The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Melbourne
• Boron Molecular Pty Ltd
• Facial Harmony Ltd (Korean-owned medical clinic)
• The Korean Society of Victoria

Sandy Nguyen (NU28 Intern)

Monash University Korean Studies graduate Sandy Nguyen commenced a three-month marketing internship position at NU28 on 13th December 2022. Her responsibilities included managing NU28’s social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook) as well as well as performing receptionist duties.

In this role, Sandy collaborated with a small marketing team in Korea and Malaysia to develop weekly social media content, while also engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders through her receptionist responsibilities. Her previous experience supporting Monash Korean Studies with social media management, combined with her Korean language skills and knowledge of skin care, contributed significantly to both securing the role and enabling her to adapt successfully in the position.

This internship position is supported by MUKSRH and the AKS Core Universities Project. Many thanks to Kaitlyn Shin for providing this fantastic opportunity to a Monash Korean Studies graduate.

Kyle Han-Menz (AKBC Intern)

Kyle Han-Menz, a graduate of Monash University's Korean Studies program, successfully completed his internship at AKBC. Kyle joined the team on August 4th and concluded his internship on October 28th, 2022.

Kyle made assisted with marketing and social media efforts, creating monthly E-newsletters, and supporting administrative duties. In addition, Kyle helped build the website for the 43rd AKBC-KABC Joint Meeting in November 2022 and also conducted  market research in areas of collaboration between South Korea and Australia. Many thanks to Liz Griffin for providing this exceptional opportunity to a Monash Korean Studies graduate.

Maki Takimoto (Monash VARS Intern)

My name is Maki Takimoto and I am a 3^rd year Arts student majoring in Korean studies. I am currently working as an intern at Monash e-Solutions department in VARS (Virtual Augmented Reality Service), via the Arts WIL (Work-Integrated Learning) program from July 2022. Through the WIL program, I was given the opportunity work in a team to develop a Korean language game which will be one of the learning materials for Monash Korean Introductory units in the future. I was responsible for tasks previously managed by Eleena and I worked with Jonathan Jolie who is the main software developer of this project as well as two other Korean teaching assistants, Tae Seong Kim and Kyle Han-Menz.

For this project, my tasks involved creating and revising a list of questions and vocabs that are used in the game; adding onto the list already established by Eleena, Kyle and Tae. These are sorted into different categories and entered in excel where it is converted to csv files for Jonathan (software developer) to add into the game. It was my first time being involved in the creation of a game, thus there were many things I was unfamiliar with; such as, creating excel spreadsheets that are converted into csv files, and compressing images to reduce the file size. Thankfully, through the help of my mentors’ thorough instructions, I was able to overcome these challenges. While working on this project, my experience from studying Introductory Korean came in handy as I was able to understand the needs of students and what they may expect to see and gain from this game.

It was a great honor for me to work on this project and being able to help current and future students learning the Korean language at Monash. Moreover, this was a valuable opportunity to apply my Korean language skills in a professional situation. I’ve gained many useful skills throughout this project, and I am glad that I was given this role. It’s only been a couple of weeks since the game was released so we haven’t got feedbacks on the game yet. However, I hope this game is helpful, fun and engaging for students and they can make the most out of it.

Eleena Chang (Monash VARS Intern)

My name is Eleena Chang and I am a 20 year old 3^rd year student at Monash University. I am majoring in Korean and am doing an internship for the Korean Studies Department. I had an internship at Monash University’s Virtual and Augmented Reality Services (VARS) in Research and Education Service (RES) in Academic and Data Technology Services (ADTS) e-Solutions from the 20^th June, 2022 to the 15^th July, 2022. During this program, I assisted a team in developing Korean games that focused on both entertainment and educational purposes. My team included 2 Korean Teaching Assistants – Tae Seong Kim and Kyle Han-Menz – and 3 software developers – Derek Huang, Jonathan Jolie, and Jacob Yap.

We decided after much discussion to firstly implement a quiz for the next semester, then hopefully focus on more technological games after. It was a fun experience, and I am happy I got to do this! I learned a lot about working in a company, as well as improved my Korean when applying all my knowledge into the quiz we have produced for the upcoming semester! Now I feel confident about working in a company in the future. I hope I can go to Korea someday and work in a company there! I would like to experience what it is like to work in a Korean society! While interning I got to improve my Korean that I feel I do not get to use much during the school holidays, so I am glad and really appreciate this opportunity. I feel like I learned so much more and did not realise how much we had learned until I had incorporated it all into the quiz. I hope this quiz game works out well and I hope to be able to contribute more to the Korean Studies Department here at Monash University!

Ellen Binion (Matheson Library Student Intern)

My name is Ellen Binion and I am a second-year Arts student with a Korean Studies major and Linguistics minor. As I have been completing the internship online this semester due to the pandemic, the Korean Studies Library Internship has been an eye-opening and truly unique experience. It has given me the opportunity to work on the online content of the Korean Studies Library Guide. I am also involved in creating online displays for Korean Studies seminars, which means I collect various sources of online information and resources to collate into PowerPoints that will direct students to further information they can access from the library on the seminar topic. My work was supervised by Anita Dewi and Jung-Sim Kim who have been integral in making my internship such a wonderful experience. Anita has made me feel part of the team, enabled me to meet as many of the team as possible, and treated me like I was employed there. Jung-Sim has been incredibly patient with her guidance as she supervised my work on the Library Guide. She taught me useful skills in creating PowerPoint presentations and advised me on working techniques and skills that I can take into future employment. All the Sir Louis Matheson Library staff were incredibly accommodating and welcoming and the experience has opened my eyes to the many avenues that are open to me. It was a pleasure to sit in on weekly meetings and hear the updates of what people are involved in. I hope to have further association with the Matheson Library beyond my internship and would recommend this internship to anyone given the opportunity.

Anusha Thirumalavan (Former Korean Consulate-General Student Intern)

My name is Anusha Thirumalavan. I’m undertaking Engineering and Arts majoring in Environmental engineering and Korean Studies at Monash University. Over the summer of my second year, I had the wonderful opportunity to intern at the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Melbourne. It was a unique opportunity that’s taught me many things and is an experience I will always look back on. Working at the Consulate helped me to further develop my Korean skills through interactions with the other staff and gave me an insight into the Korean-style working environment. It was also a very supportive workplace. All the staff were friendly and welcoming and always there to provide a helping hand when needed. I was able to try new things, such as writing media reviews and helping with organising important events, as well as honing my writing and reviewing skills through daily writing and proofreading. I was also able to help design posters for events and was lucky enough to be offered to be a part of a range of new experiences. I was able to build my professional network and still keep in touch with the people I met and worked with during this time. It was a very valuable experience that I would highly recommend to other students.