The McCusker Centre for Citizenship's Summer 2025 internship program will wrap up this week, marking a major milestone for the Centre and its award-winning program: surpassing 5,000 internships undertaken.
In 2016 the Centre launched its unique flagship internship program, which is focused on positive social impact in the community, with just 16 students. Since then, the program has grown extensively with 5,300 students taking up this unique opportunity with over 650 partner organisations and contributing 540,000 hours to benefit the community.
The internship program has received a number of awards and has become an integral part of the student experience at UWA.
Each intern in the program contributes 100 hours to a project-based role, all designed to make a positive impact for the community, while providing students with valuable real-world experience and opportunities to put their skills into practice.
Intelife, a WA disability support social enterprise, has now hosted more than 20 interns.
“Intelife has had the privilege of working with passionate UWA student interns who have supported our projects and taken to heart the importance of creating opportunities for people with disabilities,” said Intelife CEO, Paul Fleay.
“We have had interns support us in social impact analysis, assist with our traineeships program, and have found the expertise of a series of Computer Science and IT students invaluable supporting tech-focused projects including our Easy Read Document Generator initiative. Our partnership with the McCusker Centre internship program has been beneficial for Intelife, for the people we serve, and for the students who have joined our team, including some who have stayed on as part-time employees or volunteers.”
For many interns, the real-world experience and opportunity to see their efforts make a meaningful positive contribution count among the highlights of their UWA experience.
“The internship was the best unit I’ve taken in my degree; it was an experience that can’t be replicated in class work, and it was extremely rewarding,” said Annalise Cook, a third-year Biomedical Science student who interned with the Fremantle Women’s Health Centre through the program this year.
Rohit Sharma, who graduated from UWA with a Master of Business Analytics this year, is now working with the Peel Development Commission, after he was introduced to the work of WA’s regional development commissions through a 2024 internship with the Gascoyne Development Commission in Carnarvon.
“The internship through the McCusker Centre for Citizenship really sparked my passion for working in the public sector, especially in regional areas where the impact of good policy and data driven planning is so visible. It truly brought everything together,” said Rohit.
Michelle Scott OAM, Professor of Practice and McCusker Chair in Citizenship at UWA, said that there was great demand from students for the internship, and a 41% increase in the number of students undertaking an internship in 2025.
“Ninety-eight percent of students say they would recommend the internship to other students. I am grateful to all our partner organisations, who work with us to provide such valuable experiences for emerging professionals and young leaders, and I am looking forward to working together to make these opportunities available to even more students as our program continues to grow.”
Feature image: McCusker Centre for Citizenship Advisory Committee members with students and UWA Vice-Chancellor Professor Amit Chakma at the launch of the UWA McCusker Chair in Citizenship on Monday, 9 September 2024.(L-R: Dr James Fitzpatrick, Gisela Roth, Michelle Scott OAM, Charlotte Ford, Judge Denis Reynolds AM, Malcolm McCusker AC CVO KC, Tonya McCusker AM, V-C Professor Amit Chakma, Krutin Patel, Kurian George and Ban Lanzona)