Internships and research in the Netherlands
How can you find an internship or research project and what arrangements do you need to make?
Information from your faculty/study programme
Under your faculty or study programme tab you can read more about how to find and arrange an internship or research project.
Information sessions
Information sessions on finding and arranging internships and research projects take place on a regular basis. See the agenda for the latest dates.
Be well prepared
Before starting an internship or research project, always conclude clear agreements and record them in writing in an internship agreement. Also check your position in terms of intellectual property rights (IPR).
Questions?
If you have any questions, contact your internship or research project coordinator.
Preparing for an internship
The Career Service at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences offers support in preparing je motivation letter and resume / CV.
- Workshops CV, LinkedIn and motivation letter
- Open hour or appointment for a CV or letter check
- Online CV-check
Note
The Career Service is not a placement office. For internship assistance you can visit your internship coordinator. Click on the tab of your study programme for further information.
Internship: extracurricular or as part of elective credits
There are two options for Political Science students (International Relations and Organisations/Politicologie/Internationale Politiek) who want to do an internship:
- as part of their elective space (for credits), or
- extracurricular (without credits).
Internship as part of your elective space
For an internship as part of your elective credits you need to follow the procedure of the Institute of Political Science. This type of internship is called a research internship and should always have a clear research component.
The research internship, 15 ECTS, is part of the elective space in the third year of Political Science (International Relations and Organisations/Politicologie/Internationale Politiek).
Your final grade, and the potential allocation of credits, will be based on an academic paper that you must submit after your internship's conclusion. All information, about the prerequisites, procedures, and timelines, can be found on the Career Preparation Brightspace, under the tile BSc Research Internship.
Read the Internship Manual closely and contact the internship coordinator if you have any questions.
Extracurricular internship
General internships without a research component and without an approved research internship plan are extracurricular internships. No credits will be given for these internships and no practical support or guidance by asupervisor of the Institute of Political Science, is provided during these internships.
If you are considering to apply for an extracurricular internship, we advise you to inform your study advisor about this so that you could together reflect on how it would best fit within your course programme and what would be the pro’s and con’s of doing an extracurricular internship in your specific situation.
If you have questions, please contact your internship coordinator.
Finding an internship
You are responsible for finding an internship yourself. The Institute and FSW Career Services provide several information meetings and services to facilitate this process.
Vacancies for internships are placed regularly on the Brightspace page Career Preparation Political Science. Here you can also find the agenda for career preparation workshops of the FSW Career Services.
In order to obtain ECTS for the internship, this should contain a clear research component. Internship activities can be performed at a public, semi-public of private organisation. You may for instance execute a research for an NGO or government department or join a research group. While other activities may be performed during the internship, data collection is essential because your final grade will depend on your research(paper).
In theory, any internship can be a research internship, as long as you think of a feasible research topic related to the thematic, geographical, or organizational focus of the internship organization. Discuss with the organisation where you would like to do an internship, the option to conduct research during/as part of the internship.
Requirements for research internships
All requirements to be eligible for a research internship, can be found in the internship manual on the Career Preparation Brightspace under the tile BSc Research Internship.
Procedure for research internships
For the full procedure, please refer to the Internship Manual on the Career Preparation Brightspace under the tile Research Internship.