OUR PROGRAMS
Overseas Professional and Intercultural Training (OPIT) Program
OPIT gives students the substantive overseas professional experience and intercultural skills demanded by today's global market. English-language internships are available in a wide range of fields, including business, humanities, social sciences, and communications disciplines throughout Southeast Europe, Eurasia, the Baltics, and East Asia.
About The Program
Through OPIT's eight-week, English-language internships, students gain the substantive overseas professional experience and intercultural communication skills demanded by today’s global market. Participants can choose a placement in a variety of fields, including business, democracy building, human rights, education, gender equality, journalism, public health, environmental protection, and social services in 19 countries throughout Southeast Europe, Eurasia, the Baltics, and East Asia.
A full-time in-country American Councils staff person oversees the professional and intercultural program, assists participants in administrative and personal matters, and works closely with the host organization to ensure that participants are engaged in meaningful projects. The OPIT program draws on an extensive network of community partners, expert regional staff, and overseas resources developed by American Councils over the years.
Knowledge of a foreign-language for most sites is not required; intermediate level proficiency in Chinese is required for placement in Taiwan. In addition, the program does provide foreign language internships to interested and qualified students, and all students have the opportunity to combine their internships with intensive language study.
Academics and Courses
The OPIT Program offers students the opportunity to gain professional experience in an international setting by providing a full-time, unpaid eight-week global internship. The program integrates experiential learning with cross-cultural training, which allows highly-motivated students to improve their professional and personal skills. The program is designed to advance participants’ critical thinking, intercultural communication skills, cultural awareness and global understanding through reflection, journal writing and feedback sessions.
Participants can also elect to supplement their professional experience with language training by adding up to 10 academic hours per week in the host country language. Language instruction will be at additional cost.
Participants earn four undergraduate or five graduate U.S. academic credit hours in Intercultural Communication. Additionally, transcripts will reflect a "Global Internship Experience" as a non-credit bearing course. Academic credit is awarded through Bryn Mawr College.
Internship Disciplines
Business and Innovation
Democracy Building and Human Rights
Ecology and Environmental Issues
Education Management
Gender and Women’s Rights
Journalism and Mass Media
Marketing and Communications
Public Health
Social Services
Recent participants have worked at the Kyiv Post newspaper, the Georgian Ministry of Euro-Atlantic Integration Office, the Eurasia Foundation, NLB Bank, and many other prominent businesses and organizations.
Locations
Participants elect to intern in one of 18 countries:
Yerevan, Armenia
Baku, Azerbaijan
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Sofia, Bulgaria
Tartu, Estonia
Tbilisi, Georgia
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Pristina, Kosovo
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Riga, Latvia
Vilnius, Lithuania
Chisinau, Moldova
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Podgorica, Montenegro
Skopje, North Macedonia
Warsaw, Poland
Belgrade, Serbia
New Taipei City, Taiwan
Prior to departure, participants receive a handbook specific to their country and internship location that provides detailed information about their site, including information about life, culture, transportation, health and safety, what to pack, and much more.
Housing and Meals
While dormitory housing is available in some locations, most program participants live with local host families for the duration of the program. Living with a host family provides valuable cultural experience to complement the internship program. Host families expose participants to authentic, everyday life in the host country while also providing a supportive environment for students. While staying with a host family, participants are provided with a private room, two meals per day, and keys to the apartment or house. All host families are screened, selected, and monitored by American Councils staff.
Financial Aid
Multiple sources of financial aid are available to prospective OPIT participants to help pay for programs abroad, including private, federal, university, and American Councils scholarships. Learn more here.
Support Services
All program participants are required to attend a mandatory pre-departure orientation in Washington, D.C. at the start of the program. Orientation sessions address health & safety, overseas business culture, host-family life, culture shock, and strategies to maximize a student's experience abroad. Students also have a chance to meet fellow participants during the orientation. Lodging and meals are provided. Upon arrival in the host country, participants attend an informative in-country orientation.
While overseas, participants have access to in-country program staff who provide around-the-clock emergency support. The local American Councils office, employing both expatriates and host-country nationals, arrange the internship placement, housing, in-country orientation, and medical care. During the program, the AC Study Abroad Team in Washington, D.C. stays in close contact via email and telephone with in-country program staff and provides updates as needed to study abroad offices, university partners, and family members.
Participants are enrolled in comprehensive overseas health, accident, and evacuation insurance through Cultural Insurance Services International (CISI) for the duration of the program. CISI provides medical coverage of up to $250,000 per accident or illness. Enrollment in the CISI plan also provides full coverage for emergency medical evacuation.
All participants are provided with a single-entry visa (if applicable)to the host country for the duration of the summer program. It is the student's responsibility to obtain any other visas required by their individual itineraries. Visa application information and forms are provided upon acceptance to the program.
Program Snapshot
Program Focus
Intercultural communication skills, professional overseas working experience
Eligibility/Prerequisites
Open to undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals
No foreign language skills required (exception: programming in Taiwan)
Minimum GPA of 2.7
Applicants must be at least 18 years old by the application deadline
Program Term
Summer (8 weeks)
June 10 - August 2, 2024
Program Cost
$4,000
(excludes international airfare)
Applications Deadline
February 15
Quick Links