Internship opportunities

If you are a BSc IB student, you get to choose whether you want to go on exchange or do the International Business internship (IBI) minor in your third year. The IBI offers a practical way to apply your BSc IB knowledge while earning 30 ECTS credits and allows you to work in real-world settings, either locally or abroad.

During the internship, you will independently plan and execute your own consulting project for the organization designed to enhance your research skills and provide practical insights into business operations. You have the freedom to select an internship aligned with the field of international business and your accumulated knowledge. Customize your internship experience to match your interests and career goals, to help you build valuable connections for your future.

Throughout the course, you will receive support and feedback from colleagues and supervisors on the work floor, and online coaching, guidance and relevant workshops from your teachers, no matter where you're located. Plus, eligible students can explore financial aid options like Marco Polo or Erasmus+ grants to help fund their internships.

Third-year BSc Bedrijfskunde students in either Business & Management or Technology Management tracks can enroll in the Minor Internship Business Research Project. This a 30 ECTS Academic Internship programme blends academic learning with practical experience.

The programme comprises three courses, including a compulsory research project (20 ECTS) and two elective courses (5 credits each), allowing you to immerse yourself in applied research within profit or non-profit organizations for an entirse semester (20 ECTS).

What's unique about this programme is that you'll get to apply various research approaches learned in your academic studies to real-world situations. This isn't just about theoretical knowledge – it's about putting what you've learned into action. You'll collaborate with professionals from the business world, gaining insights into their challenges, requirements, and expectations. It's a chance to see how research operates outside the university walls.

Throughout the course, you'll be guided through the entire research process – from planning and executing to presenting your findings. Collaboration with stakeholders outside the academic realm further enhances your understanding of how research operates in practice within the dynamic context of business.

FEB offers students of all MSc programmes (except for the Research Master) the possibility of doing a Master internship (MI). Next to 15 ECTS on top of your Masters Degree, the MI offers you the opportunity to gain work experience, combine theory and practice and explore your career interests and skills.

In the Master internship, you do an internship related to your MSc programme directly after your first semester and before writing your thesis.

Depending on the aim of your final-year research, it might be interesting to combine your research project with an internship. Students will be appointed one supervisor from the faculty and one supervisor from the host institution.

Please check with your programme whether combining an internship with writing your thesis is allowed, and if so, which rules and deadlines apply.

In case your programme does not offer an internship course, and you still want to do an internship, you could consider doing an internship without University involvement and thus without earning ECTs for it*. This has some advantages and disadvantages, which are listed below.

Advantages

• Timing is flexible: you do not need to meet any University deadlines or perform your internship within a semester;
• No reports need to be delivered;
• No mandatory meetings;
• No criteria: you can pick whatever internship you are interested in.
  

Disadvantages

• Your internship does not have University's acknowledgement which can serve as a 'quality stamp' for future employers to estimate the value of your work experience;
• University will not co-sign internship agreements for voluntary internships*;
• You miss out on internship offers which require University involvement**;
• You miss out on guidance, workshops, interactive sessions with your 'intern colleagues', which are offered in FEB's internship courses;
• You miss out on the structure of course goals, criteria and assessment of and feedback on your internship.

If after reading this, you decide you want to do an internship within a University course instead of a voluntary one, please know that every FEB Master Programme (except for ReMa) offers the opportunity to incorporate a Master Internship in your programme. Doing an internship within your Master also has the advantage of being able to already apply some more specialized knowledge to the working field, which is advantagous for your career preparation as well as your CV!

*Please note: when you are a student from a non-EU country, you ALWAYS need University to be involved when you do an internship in the Netherlands, because of government rules. This means you can only do an internship when the internship is approved in one of the internship courses FEB offers, which means you have to be aware of the deadlines for these courses and have your proposal approved in time. University of Groningen does NOT sign internship agreements for voluntary internships (meaning: not credit bearing).
** In the Netherlands, it is perfectly legal for companies to hire an intern (from an EU country) without University involvement, but some companies still prefer University to be involved.