Internships for international students

The 148-hour internship scheme is open to:

• International students currently studying a Bachelors, Masters or PhD course.

Not eligible for this scheme:

• International graduates

Other considerations

• You cannot do an internship with a company that you have worked for previously.
• You can take part in one internship per academic year. 

• The scheme is for a total of 148 hours. We recommend that you work up to 12–13 hours per week for a total of approximately 12 weeks. This work may take place remotely and you can work at the weekend. Please refer to Working during your studies for information.
• You will earn the Real Living Wage of £12 per hour totalling £1,776 for the duration of the internship, and will be paid by the company through their payroll.
• You will be entitled to 16.25 hours of paid leave inclusive of Bank Holidays.
• During vacation periods (for example Christmas or Easter) you should agree working arrangements with your employer. You may wish to work during the vacation or take some of your paid leave or agree to take a short period of unpaid leave.

Your internship will give you an opportunity to build and demonstrate skills, knowledge and confidence in a professional area of work. This does not need to be directly related to your degree subject.

Examples of the work you could be doing include:

• assisting with researching home country markets
• liaising with key suppliers, clients and customers in a specific overseas market
• developing international contacts
• providing cultural advice
• customer service and administration for international customers
• supporting marketing and social media campaigns
• translation and interpreting services.

Don't restrict your search to jobs or companies that are directly related to your degree subject – you could miss out on some amazing opportunities. Researching organisations will give you a better insight into the experience and transferrable skills you could gain from working for them.

If a job or a company sounds interesting to you, think about how you can demonstrate the skills and attributes the employer is looking for. You will have developed transferable skills during your course, such as communication skills, working to deadlines and research skills.

For many of our internships enthusiasm, motivation and a desire to try out a new area of work will go a long way to getting you noticed.

We'll provide the employer with an agreement that needs to be signed electronically by all three parties: the employer, you (the intern), and UWE Bristol.

You’ll need to confirm the required details and your eligibility to work.

We recommend that your internship employer provides you with a separate agreement to cover any company policies not included in the UWE Bristol internship agreement. Working hours and/or sickness absence must be arranged following the organisation’s policies and procedures. We also recommend keeping a shared online record of the hours you have worked during the internship.

You will not be employed by the University. Your employer will recruit you on the same basis as they would any other member of staff. You’ll be paid directly by your employer through Pay As You Earn (PAYE) on a weekly or monthly basis.