Internship FAQ

Where can I find information about the internship courses?

Apart from the website, information is also available on the respective programme pages on Studium.

Which internships are eligible for the courses?

Academic credits are only available for internships that take place within the academic semester, meaning every student seeking academic credit through the internship course is required to submit specific paperwork.

Can I start or end the internship on other dates than the academic course?

The internship courses are academic courses and eligibility for credit is dependent upon carrying out the internship during the corresponding weeks (20 or 10 for Master's and 20 for Bachelor's) within the academic calendar. However, students are insured two weeks before and two weeks after the course dates (more about insurance below), so we have some flexibility:

1. Where the internship-hosting organisation cannot accommodate the academic calendar, students may proceed with arranging an internship with early start dates of up to 7 working days, without advance approval from the Course Convener. Importantly, a later start date at the Master's level will interfere with the sequence of your other courses, since there is no time between courses. A late start date is to be avoided if possible and should be seen as a last alternative. Start dates beyond the 7-day leeway period need to be cleared beforehand regardless of what course a student is taking.
2. End dates are not as flexible, although Bachelor’s level internships may end 7 working days outside of the official course end date without prior approval from the Course Convener. Master’s students are not allowed to end their internships later, they must be back in Uppsala on the first day of the Spring semester, for the Master’s thesis course.

Can I combine different internship courses with other academic courses?

Not really. The internship courses are full-time and 20 weeks (at the BSSc and MSSc levels) or 10 weeks (at the MSSc level only). Students may take the shorter, 10-week, 15 credit internship courses sequentially, for instance carrying out one internship during the first half of the academic semester and a different internship in the last half. Occasionally, students may register for another course such as a 5-week, 7.5 credit, to take at the same time as an internship but this depends upon whether or not the student will be able to attend lectures and class meetings without disrupting or diminishing their capacity to carry out their internship duties. This latter type of arrangement needs to be coordinated with the internship hosting institution and checked with the Course Administrator since it would also mean a student was enrolled for additional academic credit in another course.

Where can I find information about suitable placement?

The course convener receives information about placement opportunities from different institutions and will post those that are suitable for the programme students on the Studium page for respective programmes under the section “Discussion”

A list of institutions where our programme students have done internships.

How do I apply to the course?

Students apply to the internship course internally, and not through antagning.se or universityadmissions.se.

1. Students will submit an Internship Plan online. Completion of the Internship Plan is mandatory. The Course Convener will contact the student if there is a problem with their Plan. Students should otherwise proceed with their arrangements. Students will be registered based on the submission of the Internship Plan.
2. At the start of the semester/period, students must deposit an electronic Internship Confirmation with the Course Convener, through the Course Site in Student Portal Supervisors. Failure to submit the Confirmation will require the student to withdraw from the course(s).

What are the deadlines?

Please see the main page for the respective internship for the most updated dates.

What should supervisors and hosting organisations be told about the internship?

Students desire to enhance their skills in our field. Concrete writing, analytical and/or research publication will be attractive.

Students need a supervisor’s evaluation at the end of the internship, which is part of the course requirements. There is no standard template for evaluations. A few paragraphs discussing the student’s responsibilities, contributions and overall performance is sufficient. Evaluation letters in Swedish are accepted.

Students are encouraged to participate in normal workplace activities and events, such as research seminars, brown bag lectures and outside events, when appropriate.

What are some of the other conditions for the internship?

The internship must relate to the study programme, thus graduate students should focus on interning within the peace, security, governance and conflict prevention, management or peacebuilding sectors. However, there is scope for overlap between peace and conflict, and governance or development sectors. Undergraduates may intern within development as well. Students should motivate as to why a novel internship (in another sector besides the traditional course-related areas) should be considered for the internship course credit.

Most internships are unpaid. Students are not allowed to receive a salary and may not enter into employment contracts. However, in some cases, internship hosting organisations offer some token of support. This could be a stipend for transportation, housing or other living expenses. Internships are training, and employment would cancel out academic credit.

The internship cannot entail travel to, or habitation in an area or territory that is on the ‘no-go’ list of non-essential travel published by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This should be communicated to internship hosting organisations and upheld during the course of the entire internship.

What about internships at the Department?

Some internship placements are arranged on a case-by-case basis, between the project and an interested and qualified student.

Other times, announcements are posted on the Studium page for respective programmes under the section “Discussion”

How does insurance work if I was to intern abroad?

Students doing internship in places other than Sweden will be covered by the ‘StudentUT’ insurance. An insurance certificate is available but the insurance applies with or without it.

Details regarding coverage and procedures for making an insurance claim

How do I obtain an internship certificate?

Contact the programme administrator Chris Chau, chris.chau@pcr.uu.se (for Bachelor's students) or programme administrator Ingalill Blad Ögren, ingalill.blad-ogren@pcr.uu.se (for master's students) to obtain an internship certificate stating that programme students have the opportunity to do an internship within the programme.