IN 395 - Leading Across Cultures: Internship Seminar

The internship seminar seeks to enhance the working experience of students participating in an internship in a nongovernmental, business or educational organization in Spain. The course seeks to adequately contextualize this experience by providing the students with the necessary background to the Spanish political and economic systems. The core topics that will be examined in the context of this class will be: the Spanish political system and its political parties, leadership and ideology, the Spanish economic system and its productive sectors, the main IBEX 35 companies and the key business leadership. Students will have the opportunity to learn about the Spanish working environment from each other through in-class formal presentations and structured informal discussions on particular issues related to the idiosyncratic Spanish social, economic and political contexts such as: the quality of political and economic leadership, the Spanish party system, the structure of the Spanish state and its administrations, the particular strategies of selected companies of the IBEX 35, the media, etc. Students will also analyze the economic sector in which their internship is situated at the Spanish level. Most importantly, the course aims to improve students’ critical thinking about their working life and careers.

Many placement sites require interns to complete an FBI background check and placement sites where students work with minors and at-risk populations are required by Spanish law to have one on file for interns. Because of this, IES Abroad requires that you obtain an FBI background check before you arrive in Spain.