ICAEW Launches International Interns Exchange Program

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) has coordinated with education partners to implement the “ICAEW Internship Mobility Program”, offering internship and cultural exchange opportunities for Singapore students in Vietnam, and bring Vietnamese students to experience a professional working environment in Singapore - the country with the most developed financial market.

Within the framework of the program, ICAEW recently cooperated with the Faculty of Accounting, Ton Duc Thang University, Grant Thornton Vietnam and BAEMIN Vietnam to offer internship opportunities for five students of Singapore Polytechnics (SP) in Ho Chi Minh City. In parallel with the internship program at enterprises, Singapore students also participated in cultural exchange activities with students at Ton Duc Thang University as well as with ICAEW members in Vietnam.

Group of Singaporean students on the tour organized by Ton Duc Thang University

Bringing Singapore students to practice and exchange culture in Vietnam.

As one of five Singapore Polytechnics students participating in an internship of more than 5 months at BAEMIN Vietnam, Fong Jun Lin said this internship has been invaluable and has taught her a lot about her skill set and given her confidence in her own abilities. “Before this internship, I was not sure that accounting-auditing was the right path for me. This internship has helped guide my career aspirations and will help me in my future career choices.”

“All the experiences I had at BAEMIN Vietnam encouraged and motivated me to pursue auditing as my future career. Therefore, these experiences have brought me closer to my goals in terms of my university major and future career”, Fong added.

As for Jazreel Lo, before applying for an internship position at Grant Thornton Vietnam, Jazreel was considering for an audit position in an auditing firm in Singapore. “However, my school offered me the opportunity to embark on an overseas internship at Grant Thornton Vietnam, which is something that I had never heard of. I was intrigued by the advisory position as it was a little different from accounting. I thought that this would be a great opportunity to learn something new”, Jazreel said.

“This internship experience has allowed me to expand my circle of network and develop a better understanding of a career path of a financial analyst and it has prepared me for the working world.”

Jazreel Lo also expressed it was thanks to the "ICAEW Internship Mobility Program" that she had better idea of working in a foreign company, instead of just planning to work in Singapore as initially.

Group of Singaporean students and staff of Grant Thornton Vietnam Company

High appreciation from partner enterprises in Vietnam

Grant Thornton Vietnam is one of two partner businesses accepting Singaporean students for internship in this batch. Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong, Senior Manager, Financial Advisory Services said: “We highly appreciate ICAEW's professionalism in implementing the ICAEW Internship Mobility program from the selection round of potential interns to exchanges with businesses during the student's internship. During the internship at Grant Thornton, Singapore students are directly involved in supporting projects and have made certain contributions.

At Grant Thornton, we are proud of ourselves on creating an environment of continuous learning for all employees at all levels, including interns. We are delighted to see the interns from Singapore Mobility Internship program making progress through each project and make sure that the knowledge and experience they gain from participating in real projects at Grant Thornton will be efficient in their future work.”

Assessing this international trainee exchange program, Ms. Cao Thi Ngoc Loan - Head of Finance and Accounting Department of BAEMIN Vietnam said that the working time with Singapore students was not too long, but BAEMIN's staffs had the opportunity to hone many soft skills such as communication, project management, etc. increasing the connection between different teams. “BAEMIN hopes to cooperate more with ICAEW in the next programs and hopes that the students participating in the program can learn the most important and necessary skills for their future jobs.”

Ready for the program to bring Vietnamese students to Singapore for internships

“ICAEW Internship Mobility Program” is an annual program that was first implemented in 2019. Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the program was restarted in September 2022. Faculty of Accounting, Ton Duc Thang University has been accompanying the program since the first year of operation.

According to Ms. Dang Thi Mai Trang, Head of ICAEW Vietnam, with a large network of partners including prestigious universities and large enterprises in Vietnam as well as Singapore, the program creates favourable conditions for students in terms of international exposure, cultural experience, along with professional skills enhancement. In 2023, the program is expected to expand to 3 Singapore schools.

“In 2018 and 2019, ICAEW launched a cultural and career exchange program in Singapore for CFAB students from Vietnamese partner universities. ICAEW also had discussions with Singaporean businesses about the program to bring Vietnamese students to practice, experience the professional working environment at large enterprises in Singapore - the leading financial centre in Asia and ranked 3rd in this world. The program will soon be executed by ICAEW in the near future”, added Ms. Trang.

Hoa Pham (Vietnam Business Forum)