This month, two Charles Sturt University (CSU) communication students from Sydney will head overseas on the work experience assignment of a lifetime.

Having completed three years of their degree in advertising, Billie Hutchison and Alice Curtis are taking up the internships as the final part of their course before graduation. The internships just happen to be with leading New York agency BBDO Advertising.

The pair will spend the next three months working on the Mars Confectionery account in the centre of New York’s advertising Mecca.

CSU’s School of Communication arranged the internships through the International Advertising Association (IAA) World Service Centre in New York and they have been made possible as a result of financial support from both CSU and the IAA.

According to CSU Advertising course coordinator Rod McCulloch, students applied competitively for the opportunity and were selected from a group of 30 final year students.

“Naturally, the spirit of competition was intense with students having to submit a written application and prepare a face-to-face presentation,” he said.

“At CSU it is our goal to prepare our students to ‘hit the ground running’ with an industry focused and supported degree course that ensures that they are the best they can be. We provide a combination of intellectual knowledge and practical skills that make them ready from day one to take their place in the communications industry

“Our affiliation with the IAA and the demonstrable support the IAA provides us both nationally and internationally is essential for the achievement of these objectives,” said Mr McCulloch.

“With the IAA, in past years we have been able to offer our students unique internship opportunities working overseas in South East Asia, Europe and the US to gain invaluable professional and cultural experience.”

As well as their day-to-day duties working in the various departments that make up the Mars account at BBDO, both students will prepare and send reports of their experiences back to CSU on a regular basis during their internship period.