Home » Study Cairns CONNECTS Employability Project

About this Program

The Study Cairns CONNECTS Employability Project provides globally-relevant 21st-century skills development for students in Cairns to enhance their employment prospects in Australia and abroad.

In partnership with online experiential learning platform, Practera, the project has these main components:

• Business Project Program (BPP)
• Innovation Hackathon (facilitated by gen[in])
• LaunchU

Internship Program

This Program connects international students with local employers seeking interns. The internship is of variable duration, from several weeks to several months. To contact the Project Coordinator, please email connects@studycairns.com.au

Business Project Program (BPP)

The BPP is a 4/5-week program in which teams of international students work collaboratively to deliver a consulting project for a local Government Agency, Business or Nonprofit. Teams are guided by a structured program, learning content via Practera’s technology online platform and receiving support from an appointed professional mentor.

The program aims to:

• Provide Cairns-based students with an opportunity to develop 21st century employability skills and expand their social and professional networks.
• Provide Clients with real outputs by having culturally diverse, multidisciplinary teams work on key business challenges.

More information about the CONNECTS BPP:

Client testimonial

“We were very fortunate to be invited to join this new initiative by Study Cairns. The team assembled of international students was assigned a marketing task to asses and review our online social media presence, against our competitors and formulate a new 3-month strategy moving forward.
The team’s effort was amazing. They overcame a range of challenges and cultural diversities to produce a brilliant report and proposed strategy. We were surprisingly impressed with the level of detail and depth of application the team presented to us at the conclusion of the project. I was so proud, not only of the work they produce but how they had stepped out of their comfort zone and applied themselves to achieve such a professional level of work.
I would highly recommend any business be willing to partner with the CONNECTS program. It has been a really beneficial exercise and definitely worth investing the time.”

– Peta Cooke, Marketing / Communications at MiHaven Student Living

Student testimonial

“I love how this program connects international students with local companies. I have always wished to have an opportunity like this, not just for a good CV, but also for a realistic learning experience. Despite the short amount of time, I made some good friends and learned a lot about teamwork skills. The mentor and client were absolutely supportive and friendly.”

– Thi Nhu Hao Ho, international student

	Practera is a multiple award-winning, recognised tech innovator and education provider that has facilitated high quality work-integrated learning experiences for over 10 000 students.
	This project is co-funded with the support of the Queensland Government’s International Education and Training Partnership Fund, managed by Study Queensland within Trade and Investment Queensland.