Build Skills • Sharpen Your Career Goals • Gain Experience • Earn Academic Credit
Our Careers team will work with you if you aspire to gain hands-on learning to complement your classroom experience. Internship opportunities can be paid or unpaid; for academic credit or just for career development. Depending on the host company or organization where you work, they can be earned at the bachelor, post-bachelor or masters level.
They can also be nearby in Geneva, elsewhere in Switzerland, or depending on your ambitions, at home or elsewhere abroad!
Recent Experience Gained by Webster Students
Private companies (from start-ups to multinationals), including at UBS, Isobar, Coty, IATA, SICPA, Impact Hub, Ace & Company, Bbold, Nielsen and SwissCom, for example
International Organizations and NGOs, including the United Nations Office in Geneva and various U.N. Agencies like UNICEF; as well as at Oak Foundation, the International Labor Organization (ILO), Human Rights Watch, International AIDS Society, Maldives Mission to the U.N. in Geneva, and the Defence for Children International, to name a few.
Internship FAQs
Each year, Webster Geneva receives and transmits offers across our student groups for both for paid (non-academic) and unpaid (academic) internships.
Internships (paid or unpaid) in companies or NGOs require work eligibility (either Swiss/EU/EFTA citizenship or family resident permits that allow work). However, many International Organizations within the International Geneva portfolio — from the United Nations and its agencies to organizations such as The Global Fund, GAVI Alliance or the International Committee of the Red Cross — offer internships for which international students may be considered (paid positions are also more competitive).
Academic Internships are organized between the school, the employer and the student; generally, these need to coincide with the academic calendar (Fall Semester, Spring Semester or Summer term).
Other internship opportunities are dependent upon the employer’s need. They may have an annual internship program (advertised in advance) or have ‘just-in-time’ needs about which they advertise for immediate placement.
An academic internship (unpaid) is a credit-bearing course and counts toward the maximum number of credits you are authorized to take during the semester. It combines practical experience related to your major(s) and/or minor(s) with academic requirements, including assignments and individual meetings with your Head of Program. Before the academic internship begins, you will sign an internship agreement outlining its objectives, responsibilities, and requirements. Depending on your disciplines and whether an internship is a degree requirement, the credits earned may count toward your major requirements or your elective credits.
Academic internships may be completed either internally (for example, as a tutor at the Learning Center) or externally with an approved organization or company. They must be educational in nature, cannot be paid or commercial, and may only be undertaken while you are enrolled as a student during the official semester dates based upon the Academic Calendar. For more information about academic internships, please contact the Academic Advising and Student Success office.