NYU Abu Dhabi students travel around the world for internship opportunities that enhance learning and educational development, and provide future career prospects in a broad range of industries from social services to finance to politics.
Internships are often facilitated by NYUAD's Career Development Center, which provides guidance and information for students exploring career opportunities in the region or globally.
NYUAD alumni Besik Turazashvili, Asad Ali, and Rory McDougall talk about some of their most memorable work experiences as NYUAD undergraduates.
Besik Turazashvili
Class of 2014
Internship: Ernst & Young
I wanted to find a position that would contribute significantly toward my major and interests and make me more specialized in the fields of economics and marketing. I was offered opportunities in Paris, Moscow, and Buenos Aires but decided to spend the summer in Tbilisi, Georgia, working as a legal and tax service assistant, and marketing and PR manager at Ernst & Young (E&Y), one of the world's largest audit companies.
I conducted market research and managed several projects, including designing three advertising catalogs for different departments, holding photo shoots, and creating a database for the company's future needs in advertising. I was also responsible for managing marketing resources and designing ads for a local magazine.
One aspect of the internship that I really enjoyed was the interaction with the local community and an added bonus: working at E&Y was very helpful for my language skills. I was required to use several languages every day, not just because the partners are located in 140 countries, but to communicate with employees in the Georgian office who are from many different countries and cultural backgrounds.
Asad Ali
Class of 2014
Internship: AECOM
AECOM in Abu Dhabi is a global provider of professional technical and management support services for industries like transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, water, and government.
I was put to work on my very first day. After a brief orientation and introductions, I began reading, listening to lectures, taking notes, and making reports. It was like getting back to school with a more practical aspect to it, but as my first week came to an end, I had gained sufficient knowledge of transportation engineering to be assigned hands-on work.
I was editing reports in my second week for the Abu Dhabi Department of Transport when I found out the reports were actually proposals for major projects around the UAE, and that AECOM was in competition against other companies for these projects. This was the first hint that I was doing serious work. There would be no fooling around!
As I settled into the internship, my assignments became more and more challenging. By the end of the (third) week, I had completed the design for the roads and pinpointed site locations where developments were planned.
As I settled into the internship, my assignments became more and more challenging. During my third week, I began designing and editing maps of sectors of Abu Dhabi where roads were to be built. The work was not very difficult but the precision by which the roads were being designed on the map made it intense and time consuming. By the end of the week, I had completed the design for the roads and pinpointed site locations where developments were planned.
The following week I was surprised by an email from my project manager, asking me to create a transportation master plan for a site and complete it by the end of the next day. I had not only impressed myself, but my supervisor too.
Rory McDougall
Class of 2015
Internship: Conservative Middle East Council
Spending 10 weeks as an intern at the Conservative Middle East Council (CMEC) in London not only provided a fascinating experience, but also gave me insight into national politics in the UK. Margaret Thatcher founded the CMEC in the early 1980s to ensure that Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) and Lords understood the complex issues in the Middle East. In order to achieve this, CMEC organizes frequent delegations to the region and arranges foreign policy experts to meet parliamentarians.
I had numerous responsibilities during the internship and every day was different, but my main task was disseminating CMEC communications through blog posts and Twitter.
First-hand experience adds new perspective to political science studies.
I was asked to write and upload daily blog posts and closely follow the news across the Middle East and North Africa. I also prepared briefing papers for MPs and Lords who were part of the delegations traveling to Iraqi Kurdistan and Lebanon and was responsible for gathering contact details for potential donors to the CMEC for its annual gala dinner, the organization's largest and most important fundraising event.