08.05.2006
Fifteen students from the University of Brighton have been chosen to take up internships at Walt Disney World Florida this year. The placement, which was open to students from the School of Service Management, is for a year and starts this June.
Disney has been running placement schemes for many years but it is only now, with the help of UK universities, that they have developed a scheme giving students the opportunity to not only get involved in the different areas of the organisation but also to attend academic workshops to aid learning. The workshops will be run by US universities and course leader Gillian Parfitt said, "it's great that students can not only work in a real life environment but can also learn academically, it should be a really good experience."
There were sixteen students who were originally put forward for the interviews and all of them made it through the pre-screening interviews on campus as well as the second round talks with Disney representatives in London - making this the largest single group from any university. Unfortunately, one student withdrew from the program but the remaining ones from Retail Marketing, Travel and Tourism and Hospitality courses will be spending two days each week in academic classes such as Theme Park Management and Human Resourcing whilst the rest of the time will be spent working at the park.
Ajit Patel, who will be working in resort operations for 48 weeks, just can't wait to get out there, he said: "I'm really looking forward to actually working for such huge international organisation with real people in a real working business. It should be a major help to everyone who is going." Some of Ajit's work will include working on events in the park, ticketing and working as a park attendant."
Fellow student Sheldene Rennis said: "Working for Disney will give me the opportunity to meet people from around the world, experience a different way of life and culture."
Contact: Marketing and Communications, University of Brighton, 01273 643022
