Speak with our internships team today about hosting a UWA student intern in 2025 - call 6488 1690, or email internships@mccuskercentre.uwa.edu.au
Ng Wen Dis is one of UWA’s most recent graduates, having first completed a Bachelor of Commerce, and now the Master of Marketing in 2024.
Having missed out on the opportunity to gain practical experience during her undergraduate studies due to COVID, Wen Dis applied to undertake an internship through the McCusker Centre for Citizenship as part of her masters, and was matched with a role with Council on the Ageing WA (COTA).
Contributing 100 hours to a project to consult with older people about their preferred ways of communicating, Wen Dis made a significant impact. COTA Chief Policy Officer, Chris Jeffery, said that her work would have been outstanding for a paid staff member, and was exceptional for an intern.
“Wen Dis’ role involved developing, distributing, and analysing a survey. She quickly demonstrated her ability to grasp complex issues, and she required minimal coaching to adopt a communication style suitable for our target cohort,” Mr Jeffery said.
Wen Dis also translated the survey into Chinese, broadening its reach and enabling COTA to engage with a demographic that had traditionally been challenging for the organisation.
“The survey featured a variety of response types and provided us with a rich source of information. The success of the survey was remarkable - typically, our surveys receive around 150 responses, with 300 being considered excellent. Wen Dis' survey garnered over 600 responses, an achievement largely attributable to her thoughtful presentation and the user-friendly format she developed,” said Mr Jeffery.
Wen Dis was one of more than 900 UWA students to undertake an internship through the McCusker Centre for Citizenship in 2024, all of which supported projects with the Centre’s partner organisations across the community and not-for-profit, local government and public sectors.
The internship program began in 2016 and has grown steadily since, maintaining an outstanding approval rating with host organisation – 98 percent of internship supervisors say they would recommend the program.
If you would like to discuss a project-based role for a talented and motivated UWA student with your organisation, contact the McCusker Centre for Citizenship’s Internship Team today – internships@mccuskercentre.uwa.edu.au, or call 6488 1690.