Economy Alters C.U. Summer Program in Hong Kong

A few weeks ago, Danielle Farrell ’10 was looking forward to summer. With several prelims approaching, she was satisfied to know that unlike many of her friends just starting to fill out their resumes, she had been on top of her summer plans. Several weeks ago she had applied and been accepted to the Cornell summer International Business and Internship program in Hong Kong.
However, with the economy facing a downturn, the University can no longer guarantee internship placement, a major component of the program, for students who have been accepted.
In addition to the six-week internship, the program also consists of a three-week course on international business taught by Prof. David Ng, applied economics and management.
“The economy is really bad and companies have adopted a wait-and-see attitude so it is especially hard to line up internships,” said Ng.
The course will still be offered if enough students choose to go and students have until Friday to decide whether they will participate, according to Mary Adie, director of special programs and executive education in the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions.
“Given global market conditions, the opportunity for internship placements has been substantially diminished … We understand that companies we have contacted in Hong Kong, as in other global markets, are finding it difficult to accommodate requests for accepting student interns at this time,” Adie stated in an e-mail.
Many of the accepted students will likely drop out of the program.
“I was 100 percent set on going,” Farrell said. “I thought I had my summer plans finalized, but now I’m not sure what I’m doing.”