UOIT and Owasco Automotive Group internship program leads to national award

Undergraduate students in the University of Ontario Institute of Technology’s (UOIT) Faculty of Business and Information Technology (FBIT) are gaining valuable practical learning experiences, thanks to an internship agreement with Owasco Automotive Group. The Whitby, Ontario-based company is helping students apply marketing, sales, accounting, administrative and technology support skills they’ve learned in the classroom to the workplace.

As a result of Owasco’s internship opportunities, the company won a Best Idea award during a recent Dealer Strategic Planning (DSP) 20 Group meeting. Each year, DSP 20 Group brings together dealership owners and general managers from across North America to share their best practices, experiences, ideas and strategies. Each member is given the challenge to come up with an idea that will help improve business performance. James Finbow, Vehicle Inventory Administrator at Owasco, who earned a Marketing diploma from Durham College and went on to earn a Bachelor of Commerce degree through UOIT’s Pathways program in June 2012, submitted Owasco’s internship idea for the 2013 challenge. This idea was showcased at the National Automotive Dealer Association (NADA) annual convention in New Orleans, Louisiana in January.

"The internship program has been a useful recruitment tool for obtaining young and talented individuals and providing them with an excellent opportunity to gain real-world experience in their chosen fields," said Finbow. "It has helped UOIT provide placement opportunities and full-time employment for its students."

Through the internship, students can:

• create industry connections
• gain relevant knowledge, skills and experience
• showcase their talents

"The internship program within the Faculty of Business and Information Technology is very popular among the students and offers them an experiential learning opportunity in which they gain real-world business and management experience through field placement positions," said Stephen Rose, Associate Dean, FBIT. "Our established relationship with Owasco has been very successful and offers not only the opportunity for internship among UOIT students from all majors, but for capstone projects as well."

Owasco hopes to expand its relationship with UOIT by offering a $2,500 scholarship each September to a third- or fourth-year Finance or Accounting student.