Internships program growing at MSD

MSD's new Vocational Placement Subject offers a Masters student the perfect start to her career.

As people are becoming much more savvy about the types of internships they seek, the chance to intern for credit while studying is more and more appealing.

In February 2016, Esther Ziebell undertook MSD’s new internship subject which placed our students into firms to gain real life work experience relevant to their studies in the built environment. Esther was placed at Tract, a contemporary planning and design practice built on uniting related professional disciplines that developed in isolation from one another: planning, urban design and landscape architecture.

Esther’s experience ultimately led to ongoing work with Tract. Towards the end of her internship, she enquired about the potential for more work, and Tract seized the opportunity, offering her a job. Currently she is working on a permanent part-time basis whilst she completes her Master of Landscape Architecture.

Esther credits the internship with improving her teamwork skills, her knowledge of the allied professions and design processes, and an insight into a ‘real-world office’. “The internship was varied and interesting. There wasn't ever a typical day and that was one of the great things. I worked on a project assessing canopy cover in outer LGAs with another intern. We went through each stage of the project – research, site visits, site analysis, Council meetings, internal meetings and production.”

When asked if she would recommend the internship subject to other MSD students, the answer is a resounding yes: “I would highly recommend the MSD internship! We study for so many years in an academic environment that it's easy to lose sight of the end goal – a career. This subject allows you to sample your chosen profession, which is invaluable.”

The Melbourne School of Design is focused on increasing the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) opportunities available to students, and the Vocational Placement Subject is proving to be a successful and rewarding initiative for participating students.

Esther first found out about the Tract internship opportunity when she attended a Melbourne School of Design Vocational Placement Subject information session in second semester 2015. Tract founder, Steve Calhoun was a guest presenter, and he announced that Tract would be running bi-annual internships beginning in February 2016. Esther checked the MSD websites for updates over the New Year and found that applications were open.

Tract is currently looking for student interns from our Masters programme for their July internship opportunity. They are seeking three interns in total, one from each of their focus disciplines: Landscape Architecture, Urban Planning and Urban Design. Each successful applicant will be automatically enrolled in the MSD Vocational Placement Subject.

More information about the Tract internships can be found here.

For further questions about the subject please contact Annie Howard, MSD Engagement Coordinator.