Internship

The internship in the second semester offers you the opportunity to learn how to apply academic skills and knowledge in real-life situations and to gain practical experience in your field, better preparing you for employment after graduation. The internship should comprise an individual, well-defined assignment at an academic level on a political or societal issue: it should deal with the original, development and effects of political, economic or social institutions. Regarding the nature of the assignment: think, for instance, of doing (applied) research, writing a policy document or advice, or carrying out a policy evaluation.

We make an effort to look for internship positions for our students. This, however, will provide only limited number of internships. Moreover, you will not simply be assigned to one: there will be a selection procedure.

The alternative is to look for a suitable position yourself and submit it for approval. Consider, for instance, public and semi-public organizations, NGO's, research and advice councils, political parties, or large business companies. If you search for an internship yourself, you have considerable liberty to find yourself a position that fits your wishes. Of course, the internship should still comprise of an inidividual assignment at an academic level, related to a political or societal issue. Finding a good internship position takes time and energy, so it is important to start early. At the start of the academic year you will be given tips and advice on how to go about your search.

Before you start the internship, you are to describe its content and aims in an internship work plan, which requires the approval of your supervisor at the university and of the internship organization. The assessment of the internship takes place according to the rules of the Faculty of Humanities. You will find them below, under 'internship regulations'.

Skills lab

An alternative for the internship is the skills lab: a project that allows you, in cooperation with a small group of fellow students and supervised by one of the teachers, to delve into a current-day political or societal debate and make your own contribution to that debate. You select the topic yourself, together with your group. You make use of various sources of information in order to gain a thorough insight in the multiple aspects of your topic: you, for instance, read and analyze policy reports, interview experts, attend meetings, or distribute questionnaires. Within your group you divide tasks and at the same time ensure coherence. Your final product will consist of indvidual contributions of each of the group members plus a group product. As as group you determine the form of your product yourself: it can, for instance, be a website, one or more publications, or an advice presented to an organization or politician.

Time schedule

Both the internship and the skills lab should cover 420 hours: the equivalent of 15 EC. Ideally you spend three days per week on the internship or skills lab in the months February to May. This leaves the other two days plus the month June for the thesis. However, if the internship organization prefers so, it is also possible to concentrate the internship in one study period and the thesis in the other.

Step-by-step plan

The steps below will help you prepare for your internship. Also check the detailed information in the Student Guide (pdf).

You are responsible for finding your own internship position. Start looking early and plan your internship around your study programme. There are a number of resources that you can use to find internships.

  • Via the internship vacancies of the Faculty of Humanities you can find internships that are suitable for humanities students. 
  • Via the internship overview of Career Services you can find internships and graduation assignments that are suitable for students from various study programmes. Ask your supervising lecturer if the internship you wish to do fits within the content of your study programme. If not, it it still possible to do the internship as extra work experience or to expand your network.    
  • Contact the organisation where you wish to do an internship directly.
  • Use your own network of students, friends, family etc.
  • On the Careers Day of Utrecht University you can informally come into contact with a variety of companies who offer internships.

Often you will have to apply for an internship. Career Services offers useful application tips and tricks that can help you on your way.

The organisation's internship supervisor is the primary person responsible for providing supervision during the internship. Once you have found an internship position, you must then ask a lecturer to act as the supervising lecturer. In principle, any lecturer from your programme certified to take exams may act as the supervising lecturer. The lecturer decides whether the internship assignment meets the requirements.

Together with your internship supervisor and supervising lecturer, you will draw up an internship work plan:

This plan describes the internship assignment, the learning objectives and the supervision parameters.

You must fill in the Internship Work Plan Form (pdf) in order to obtain approval for the internship work plan. This form is also available in Dutch: Stagewerkplanformulier (pdf). Both supervisors must sign the completed form.

You, the internship organisation and the Faculty of Humanities must sign an internship agreement for you to be able to do an internship. The Faculty of Humanities has a model Internship Agreement (pdf) available for students with a EU/EAA, Swiss or Surinam nationality. This contract is also available in Dutch: standaard stageovereenkomst (pdf).

For non-EU/EEA student Nuffic has a standard agreement which you can use to settle the essential points around your internship.

If the internship organisation has its own agreement, then the parties may use that instead. The internship agreement must be signed by you and the internship organisation (not by the supervising lecturer). The Internship Office will sign the agreement after it has been submitted to the Student Desk (see step 5).

Exceptions:

  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If you are doing an internship with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you must submit an internship application to the Ministry’s Internship Policy Coordinator. This person will send the internship agreement to the Internship Office, so you do not need to use the Faculty’s model agreement. The internship work plan must be signed by the lecturer supervisor and the internship supervisor. You can then submit the signed form and the work plan to the Internship Office.
  • Media internships. If you found your internship position via Mediastages.nl, then the Internship Office will only send a signed copy to the supervising lecturer. Mediastages will send a copy directly to you.
  • Meertens Institute. The Faculty and the Meertens Institute have agreed to use both the Faculty’s model internship agreement and the Meertens Institute agreement. Remember to submit both agreements to the Internship Office at the earliest possible moment prior to starting the internship.

Once the internship work plan has been approved and the internship agreement has been signed, you must submit the following documents to the Internship Office:

  • 1 internship work plan form
  • 1 internship work plan
  • 1 original internship agreement

The Internship Office will check the documents for correctness and sign the agreement. They will then send you, the lecturer and the internship organisation a signed copy of the agreement. Once this is complete, you will automatically be registered for the internship in OSIRIS. So you do not have to do this yourself!

Please note! You are advised to submit the documents listed above to the Internship Office before starting the internship, especially if you are doing an internship abroad. If, for some reason, you are unable to submit the documents before starting the internship, then try to turn them in as soon as possible.

Internship Office

A. Drift 10, 3512 BS Utrecht (Mon-Fri 11.00-15.00)
T. +31 (030) 253 6285 (Mon-Fri 11.00 - 12.30, 13.00 - 15.00)
E. stage.gw@uu.nl

Always mention your student number in correspondence!

At the end of the internship, you must write an internship report consisting of an evaluation section and a description of the internship results. The internship report is the basis for the supervising lecturers' final assessment. You must turn in the report to the internship supervisor as well as the supervising lecturer. You must also submit a digital version of the report (without appendices) to the Internship Office via e-mail: stage.gw@uu.nl.

The lecturer supervisor is responsible for the final assessment and grading of the internship. The evaluation of internships is based on standard forms:

The internship feedback form is the basis for a conference between your lecturer supervisor and the internship supervisor about your performance during the internship. The quality of your internship report is crucial in this evaluation. The lecturer supervisor will take into account the feedback and evaluation of the internship supervisor.  You will receive this evaluation from your lecturer supervisor.

Finally your grade and EC will be registered in OSIRIS.

Exceptional cases

Students with a disability may face more difficult challenges in finding an appropriate internship. Fortunately, a growing number of companies are aware of the needs of this group of student interns and are taking steps to make it easier for this target group to complete internships. Please bear in mind that it may take longer to find an appropriate internship.

For information for internships with a functional limitation, you can visit the websites:

Expertise Centrum Handicap + Studie 
Expertise centre for studying with a disability for such resources as the Stagewijzer (‘Guide to Internships’) in Dutch. If you are considering studying abroad, the website of also includes everything you need to know to ensure that preparations go smoothly.
Study in Holland
If you are looking for a subsidy scheme in support of an international internship, visit this Nuffic website.

Student athletes may face more difficult challenges in finding an appropriate internship. Fortunately, a growing number of companies are aware of the needs of this group of student interns and are taking steps to make it easier for this target group to complete internships (e.g. flexible working hours and a longer internship duration). If you need help, please refer to your student counsellor.

 

more information

If you want to know more, or if you have any questions about internships, you can contact the Internship Office Humanities.