Nike's CEO Elliott Hill rose from an intern at the sportswear brand in 1988. Three-time Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg began as an intern at Universal Studios at 17. Steve Jobs conceived the idea for Apple while interning at HP. These stories highlight internships as life-changing opportunities.

International data shows students with internship experience receive 85% more interview offers and starting salaries US$15,000 higher than their peers. High-quality internship programs also yield a return of US$1.47-US$1.48 for every dollar invested.

Leading international universities prioritise internships as much as academic programs. British University Vietnam (BUV) is one such example.

"BUV is committed to training graduates who meet the A-S-K model-Knowledge, Skills, and Attitude-fully prepared for the professional job market," said Professor Rick Bennett, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President of BUV.

BUV's Lion-Track internship program is designed with five stages: preparation, internship-opportunity connection, support during internship, internship completion, and post-internship reflection. "At BUV, every step our students take is guided, and every stage of their growth is supported," Professor Bennett added.

During the preparation phase, BUV establishes a robust support system to equip students with both professional skills and a career-ready mindset. The "Hire Me Series" workshops are held regularly, complemented by personalised 1:1 counselling tailored to each student.

The university also fully funds the Indigo career assessment test, an AI-powered tool grounded in higher education and neuroscience, developed by Dr. Ron Bonnstetter.

Before taking the Indigo test, Truong Khanh Huyen, a BUV finance student, had proactively interned and joined university clubs, believing she had a rough grasp of her strengths, weaknesses, personality, and abilities. Yet, as Huyen recalls, this knowledge had always felt "vague and unnamed"-until an Indigo debrief session brought everything into focus. The test revealed her standout strengths in goal-setting, planning, and problem-solving, alongside a preference for clear processes and standards that make her feel secure and focused in structured environments.

Indigo goes beyond assessment, guiding students through deep self-exploration across three scientific dimensions: behavior, motivation, and skills. Trusted by Fortune 500 companies in over 90 countries for recruitment and talent development, at BUV it serves as the initial step to understanding oneself through scientific language.

In-depth debriefs with career specialists dissect each metric and trait, linking them directly to students' personalities and experiences.

"I realized I'm truly suited to roles demanding structure, order, and specific standards," Huyen said. "Looking back, these traits align perfectly with finance—a field requiring clarity, logic, and high proactivity.

In the opportunity-connection phase, BUV provides students with an exclusive network of over 500 domestic and international business partners offering internship opportunities annually.

Throughout the internship, Huyen and other students have been receiving support from BUV through workplace experience-sharing sessions.

At the internship's conclusion, BUV guides students to hold dialogues with managers to review progress and identify future networking opportunities. For employers, BUV implements the Professional Experience Evaluation Form (PEEF), assessing students' knowledge, skills, professional ethics, behavior, and career potential. PEEF data from 2024–2025 shows 97.3% of employers rated BUV interns as "Excellent" or "Good."

To close the cycle, BUV helps students translate their internship outcomes into compelling job applications. Through this reflection phase, students transform experiences into tangible "career assets."

Beyond local opportunities, many BUV students secure full-time roles at international companies following internships.

Doan Thu Phuong, a BUV accounting and finance student, excelled in the KPMG Ambassador program-a nationwide talent-development initiative by KPMG-and received a full-time job offer from one of the world's top four auditing firms.

Commenting on BUV students; internship performance, Nguyen Anh Phuong, KPMG Ambassador Program Manager, said, "BUV students are intelligence, agility, and proactivity. They aren't hesitant to ask for help and demonstrate a strong ability to learn and grow continuously."

Thu Phuong is among thousands of BUV students reaping rewards from their internship efforts. Statistics show 100% of BUV graduates secure employment or pursue further studies within three months of graduation, far surpassing the global average of 52-67%.

BUV's internationally aligned Lion-Track internship program has proven its ability to shape students into global citizens with distinctive "lion's heart" qualities. Traits like resilience, leadership, strategic thinking, confidence, and compassion-embodied by BUV students-are sought by 90% of global employers, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers in the U.S.

British University Vietnam (BUV) is Vietnam's first QS 5-Star university and the first in Vietnam and ASEAN accredited by QAA, the U.K.'s prestigious higher education quality assurance agency. Its programs stay current with industry trends, combining theory and practice to ensure 100% graduate employability or further study within three months of graduation. Learn more about BUV here.

Content by Thy An
Designed by BUV
Photos courtesy of BUV