IBS students get their international experience online with South Korean companies during corona
Travelling is not an option in corona times, so five Saxion International Business School (IBS) students started their projects for South Korean company Orinbe, online in the Netherlands last week. Since the spring, Saxion has been looking for new ways to collaborate internationally with partner universities, including Hankuk University in South Korea. The aim is to also add Top Talent students to the programme.
“In May this year, IBS, together with the Saxion International Office and Hankuk University, looked into how we could organise our collaboration during the corona pandemic,” said Klaudyna Renkel, coordinator of the Saxion Export Expertise programme. “We were looking for new and extra opportunities for our students to gain international experience, even though they can’t travel abroad right now. We received two business cases from Hankuk University.”
Adding Top Talent students
The first group of fourth-year IBS students will research how the South Korean company Orinbe can best enter and serve the Dutch market. The company is active in the cosmetics industry, making products exclusively with ingredients from Jeju Island, a volcanic island listed by UNESCO World Heritage as a Natural Heritage site. The students are working under supervision of the programme and Orinbe’s CEO. “Working remotely for a foreign client is new for the students and requires them to use their abilities in a different way,” says Klaudyna. “After we have gained more experience with this method in the coming months, we want to add Top Talent students to the research in January.”
Lecturer exchange
The programme also wants to do the same with a second business case for a South Korean company that is active in primary education and wants to enter the European market. The aim is to have Saxion students, from both the regular and Top Talent programmes, working together with students from Hankuk University, Klaudyna explains. There are also plans to get teachers from both educational institutions to collaborate more intensively or do an exchange.
Towards an International Smart Solutions Semester
Ngoc Ngo, as manager strategic for partnerships at the Saxion International Office, is highly involved in the collaboration. She is very pleased with developments: “This will be a unique step in the collaboration between Saxion and Hankuk University. At Saxion we are also looking to set up an international Smart Solutions Semester. Experimenting with international business cases together with our partner universities, is a first step in that direction. We see it as a good way to explore different forms of collaboration.”
If you want to know more about this project or are interested in collaboration, please contact Klaudyna Renkel of the Saxion International Business School, at: k.j.renkel@saxion.nl.