Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) and Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) held a kick-off ceremony for the 17th HUFS-KOTRA Internship Program on Jan. 13, dispatching 76 students to 62 overseas offices of KOTRA in 53 countries.

HUFS opened the ceremony with an introduction of the program, followed by the announcement of oath by the students. HUFS President Kim In-chul also delivered a speech to encourage the interns.

Under the program, the students will support KOTRA's research, interpretation and other trade support-related duties such as writing reports and hosting investments for six months in the Korea Business Centers.

The HUFS-KOTRA Internship Program selects students with outstanding language skills and competencies, allowing them to obtain global perspectives through various duties.

Launched in 2008 with 16 students in 14 countries, the KOTRA internship program has been sending 1,357 interns to the trade agency's overseas offices, who developed their dream to become trade experts. KOTRA offices have been expressing high satisfaction on HUFS students who have proven themselves with outstanding performances.

A KOTRA staff, also a HUFS alumnus who studied Spanish, gave a lecture on the benefits of the experience in finding jobs, while special sessions on utilizing the internship on resumes and interviews in the future were held.

A graduate from the Department of Russian also shared the experience on how the KOTRA internship program helped him land a job overseas.