Student life
Summer Internships
IMFSE students have the opportunity to undertake a summer internship between year 1 and year 2 of the IMFSE program during the summer holidays. We strongly recommend doing an internship if possible, as we have noticed in the past that students really benefit from this. Sometimes it can even result in a job offer at a later stage!
There are two important things to keep in mind:
This is not an official part of the program and you can therefore not earn any ECTS credits for undertaking an internship. Nevertheless, it is a large added value to put on your CV if you do not have any work experience yet in the FSE field and a perfect way to actually apply what you have learned in the first year.
Visa applications for your second year can stand in the way of doing an internship, as some students need to travel back home to apply for a visa. On the other hand, visa issues to be able to do an internship and work in a certain country can be very time-consuming as well. Make sure you inform yourself correctly and start the process well in advance, so that you are able to correctly inform a possible employer about your visa situation.
One option is to perform an internship at one of the IMFSE contributors. It is a great way to gain some extra experience at a company specialized in FSE, since our contributors are all experts in the FSE field. You have two choices:
- The IMFSE office can help you try to secure an internship spot: we will send out an e-mail by mid-November to all first-year students, asking them to fill out a form and to send us their CV and motivation letter(s). This will enable us to gather all the documents of interested students and send them all at once, so the contributors know immediately who the IMFSE students are exactly.
- You are also allowed to contact the contributing companies yourself, and apply for an internship through them (their website/portal) directly.
Please note you should not be at the same time contacting directly AND contacting the IMFSE secretariat. This creates confusion for the companies, so please select 1 of the 2 choices above!
Another option is to arrange an internship on your own at another company, this is your own responsibility. From time to time there are even internship opportunities at the partner universities, so keep an eye on their websites.
Every IMFSE student is enrolled at Ghent University, and therefore these internships fall under the rules and regulations of Ghent University. More information can be found here[1]. Unpaid internships will need to be registered in Plato, as these are covered by the Ghent University insurance. Paid internships do not need to be registered, Ghent University insurance does not cover these.
[1] https://www.ugent.be/ea/en/for-degree-students/your-studies-in-ghent/traineeships