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!

Internships at Webster Geneva Campus

Recent Experience Gained by Webster Students

Internships at Webster Geneva Campus

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 and unpaid 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.

This depends on the needs of the organization. A typical Academic Internship (which earns 3 credits — equal to one course toward your graduation) would be the equivalent of 14 hours of work per week during a 16-week semester. Swiss labor law permits students (who have permission to work) to work 15 hours per week during study periods and full-time (40 hours per week) during break periods. If you are planning to do an internship, it is important to consider how your internship commitment would work with your class schedule. Most organizations prefer that you are able to work some full days per week versus pieces of time during the week.

If you are selected for an internship that is related to your major, you can possibly receive academic credit for this internship depending on the tasks you are required to do and the duration of the internship (this requires the approval of your head of your academic department). An academic internship becomes part of an elective course which consists of your internship tasks and academic activities (individual meetings with your course professor and course assignments). All details are included in an agreement signed by you, the internship provider and the university. Academic internships are part of the do not require the right to work in Switzerland as they are part of your curriculum. These internships cannot be paid or be commercial in nature and can only be done while you are a full time student.

Our Career Services team is here to guide you, from day one, to help you with your interests and goals.

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