Foreign internships–when and where to apply

This post is the second in our series about foreign internships. Ashish Goel from IIT Roorkee, who interned with TU Darmstadt in Germany in 2005, shares tips about where and when to apply for a foreign internship.

Where to apply:

The entire world is an option. However, if trends are anything to go by, not too many internships are offered in USA or Canada as compared to Europe. So your best option is Europe. Getting an internship in Germany, UK, Switzerland, France, Italy and Netherlands has the highest probability. Some universities, institutes and research labs have annual official internship programs. You have to find out about such programs from their websites.

Here’s an indicative list of the places which offer internships:

• Austria: TU Graz; Joanneum research labs, Graz; Boku University, Vienna.
• Belgium: Catholic University of Leuven, Leuven; VUB, Brussels.
• Finland: University of Joensuu, Joensuu; University of Turku, Salo, Turku.
• France: INP Grenoble; Ecole Centrale de Nantes, Nantes; INLN, CNRS, Nice.
• Germany: Fraunhofer Institutes, Germany; Max Planck Society Institutes; RWTH-Aachen; Kiel University, Kiel.
• Greece: AUTH, Thessaloniki.
• Italy: University of Trieste, Trieste; CNR, Pisa; University of Trento, Trento.
• Netherlands: NIKHEF Amsterdam; Delft University, Delft.
• Scotland: University of Edinburgh, University of Leeds.
• Singapore: NTU and NUS
• Sweden: KTH Stockholm
• Switzerland: EPFL, Lausanne; ETH, Zurich; University of Zurich; Amadeus Software, Lausanne; University Of Basel, Basel.
• UK: University of Sheffield; Kent University.

When to apply:

Applying too early is not much use because your potential employers themselves don’t know what their situation is going to be at the time when you want to start your internship. They have to look for available projects, research work required at that time, and most importantly their financial situation. But for people aspiring for internships during summers, the peak time for applying is during September and October of the previous year. So the best time to start e-mailing would be August end, or the beginning of September. And keep trying till you start with any internship next year: even if there is a late offer, you can make it. And even if you do get an offer in time, don’t stop trying because you may get a better offer, and you never know what problems might crop up in your existing offer.

This article is an abridged version of the detailed guide that Ashish had written back in 2006. Although we have done our best to keep this information relevant, some of it may not be updated. Check out the first article in this series, about the application process. We hope you found this helpful.

Image credit: http://careercenterpeers.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/12/intern-abroad.html