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The Internship Office was established in 2012 to provide research and professional work experience placements exclusively to Oxford students, with adjunct funding and support.
It now runs a range of highly successful internship programmes to support Oxford students in securing useful, exciting work experience opportunities throughout the year, in the UK and across the globe.
The Internship Office’s main programmes are:
If you are an employer and would like to offer an internship on any of our programmes, please see our Hire an Oxford Intern page.
The Summer Internship Programme provides access to hundreds of summer internship opportunities. These are offered by our international alumni, by multi-national corporations, by world-leading NGOs, by cutting-edge research institutions and many other organisations. All are exclusively available to Oxford University students.
Since the programme’s inception, students have undertaken internships in over 40 countries and have gained valuable work experience while travelling to exciting and exotic locations. The Summer Internship Programme also gives students the chance to explore work experience options in a variety of sectors in the UK.
The programme is open to all current Oxford University students, undergraduates and postgraduates, including those in their final year of study. Please note that visiting students are not eligible to apply.
Internships take place in the long vacation (between June and September), are 2-12 weeks in duration and are advertised from the beginning of Hilary term each year.
The Micro-Internship Programme provides students with convenient, short-term work placements based in the UK and Mainland Europe. The programme offers a large volume of placements across a full range of sectors, taking place in each vacation period at the end of every Oxford term. (Find term dates on the Oxford University website).
Placements can be research-based or professional and in a range of sectors, including think tanks, international development, consultancy, start-ups, charities, arts and heritage, or within the University (colleges, faculties and departments). Indeed, many of the projects interns assist with combine skills and experience from numerous sectors, such as consultancy or marketing in service of charities and not-for-profits.
Each placement provides an excellent snapshot into the workings of the organisation and its sector, as well as valuable transferable experience for your CV.
Crankstart Scholars (formerly known as Moritz-Heyman Scholars) are encouraged to gain work experience during their time at Oxford, and funding and support are available to help them do so. Crankstart Scholars can receive advice and guidance at any time with a view to undertaking a work placement in one of the vacations. Scholars can also apply to be a part of the Crankstart Careers Mentoring Programme, which matches selected scholars with industry professionals in their area of choice. The Crankstart Programmes include:
This programme is only open to Crankstart Scholars.
The Laidlaw Undergraduate Research & Leadership Programme was launched at the University of Oxford in 2016, building upon Lord Laidlaw’s visionary commitment to supporting undergraduate student development and education.
The Laidlaw Programme equips undergraduate students with research and leadership skills to help them pursue their academic and professional aspirations beyond their current course of study.
The Programme comprises two mandatory elements:
Successful applicants will receive a stipend of up to £6,000 to facilitate their research project. Students undertaking placements at research institutions outside the UK may claim up to a further £2,000 towards travel-related expenses. Additional funding (up to £1,000) is also available to meet lab-based research expenses that cannot be covered by the host institution.
The Promentor Programme: An Alumni Mentoring Programme matches selected Oxford students with Oxford alumni in order to develop a mentoring partnership. Each year, bursary-holding students are invited to apply, with 10 first year students being selected as mentees each year. Following a matching process, mentees are introduced to 3 mentors, who they have access to throughout their time as an undergraduate at Oxford. Meetings are suggested to take place at least once a term.
Selected mentees also have access to:
The Micro-Placement Programme for Research Staff provides university employed research staff, an opportunity to further develop key employability skills and competencies required by organisations; such as commercial awareness, communication skills and team-work. The programme is designed especially for university employed research staff at grade 6 or above, who are currently on a fixed term contract or have finished their fixed term contract in the past 12 months.
The focus of the placement is to observe and assist with a notable project. There are a broad range of placements across various sectors and types of organisations. Micro-placements are currently offered by organisations in Oxford and London. Placements will not necessarily be research based and could be anything from communications to event planning or consulting to marketing.
To view the programme dates for this term, please visit the Micro-Placement Programme for Research Staff webpage.
If you are an HSBC, Galactic Unite, D. H. Chen Foundation or Carpenters’ scholar you are encouraged to gain work experience during your time at Oxford, and you can apply for funding to support your internship.  The awards vary from £200 to £2,500 depending on the location of the internship, the remuneration and living arrangements.  As an HSBC or Galactic Chang Rajii scholar, there is no limit to the number of internship bursaries you can apply for, however, you may not exceed the maximum contribution of £2,500 overall.  As a D. H. Chen scholar you are limited to one internship bursary during your time at Oxford University. However, should you wish to split the internship award across multiple years, please send your enquiry to funding@careers.ox.ac.uk.
Please note that we will confirm your placement with the host organisation before a bursary is paid out.
Be aware that funding will not be allocated for fee-charging internship schemes, or those organised by a third-party internship recruitment company.
To apply for funding, please email your Internship Bursary form to the Internship Office Finance Officer, funding@careers.ox.ac.uk.
Like all students, you can also receive advice and guidance from the Careers Service at any time. Discuss undertaking an internship in one of your vacations by booking an appointment to see a Careers Adviser. Our Careers Advisers offer free, impartial, confidential careers guidance based on your individual needs. Â They will also check CVs and cover letters.
Please join our mailing list in order to receive information and updates about our internship programmes and their opportunities. To do so, just fill in the form below!
Please see the Careers Service Privacy notice for details on how the personal data you enter on to this form is stored and used.
You can also keep updated with our programmes by keeping an eye on the Careers Service blog. Relevant posts can be accessed by clicking on the Related News tab at the top of Internship Office web pages.
The weekly Careers Service newsletter also highlights any important news about our office featured on the blog.
We regularly post news about the Internship Programme on our dedicated Facebook page, so please “like” the page to stay up to date!
Each year we run a competition for The Summer Internship Programme interns’ photographs of what they saw and experienced during their placements. To read about this year’s competition, please click here.
Here some of our favourite entries from previous competitions.
The Agency programme will help you gain practical experience working within an environment similar to a traditional creative agency – with real client projects from local businesses, charities and community organisations.
You will be working in small teams of six over one academic term to find a creative solution to an intellectually challenging problem. Examples of possible projects could include assessing and designing the means to attract a different demographic to a book store, overhauling a company’s brand language or analysing the effectiveness of a previous advertising campaign with a view to implement a new strategy.
Applications for The Agency programme in Hilary 2020 are now open and the closing date is 10 January 2020 (noon). Apply now in CareerConnect >>
AstraZeneca will be advertising approximately 40 new postdoctoral positions in February which are available for anyone completing their PhD in 2020. More details about their programme can be found on the AstraZeneca postdoc careers website.
You might also be interested in attending their Postdoctoral Programme Open Day in Cambridge on 31 January although there are only 30 places available so please register as soon as possible if you are interested. Register for AstraZeneca Postdoctoral Open Day here >>
All interested Oxford University students are invited to attend the Law Fair at Oxford Brookes on 19 November. It is taking place in the Forum at the John Henry Brookes Building on Tuesday 19 November at 17.30-19.00. On the afternoon of the Law Fair, Cornwall Street Chambers will also be giving a talk on ‘Life at the Bar and Applying for Pupillage’ at 16:15-17:15 in JHB 208 (Chakrabarti Lecture Theatre).
This year’s confirmed exhibitors at the Oxford Brookes Law Fair include Cornwall Street Chambers, 3PB Barristers, Angela Porter Solicitors, Brethertons, Freeths, Hine Solicitors, Knights, Royds Withy King and Shoosmiths. In addition, there will be representatives from Aspiring Solicitors, Chambers Student Guide, ICSA, LawCareers.Net, TARGET Jobs Law, and Warwickshire County Council Legal Services. There will also be representatives from BPTC and LPC providers, including the University of Law, University of the West of England Law School, Northumbria University and City, University of London.
If you would like to attend the Law Fair and/or the Cornwall Street Chambers talk please register at Oxford Brookes Law Fair >>
Being a successful barrister requires a specific set of skills and is one of the most competitive sectors to get into. On top of the that, the qualification process is changing from September 2020 making it difficult to navigate for aspiring barristers. Join us on Friday 22 November, 15:30-17:00 at the Careers Service to find out how.
We are delighted to welcome Mark Jones, the Future Pupil Programme Coordinator at The University of Law to demystify the Bar and the new qualification process. Mark studied the BPTC last year and obtained an offer for pupillage to commence in October 2020.
You do not need to book a place at this event but please bear in mind that spaces will be allocated on a first-come, first served basis and popular events may fill early so arrive in good time. Find out more >>
Come to the Careers Service, 56 Banbury Road, on Friday 22 November at 13:00 to find out more about the opportunities offered by the Yenching Academy of Peking University. This two-year interdisciplinary Master’s Programme in China Studies annually enrols approximately 125 new students from both the Chinese Mainland and abroad, to study, live, and learn together. International students comprise roughly 80% of the student body. The application deadline for the 2020 cohort is 6 December 2019.
For more information and to register for the session, please have a look at the event listing on CareerConnect, or alternatively go to the Yenching Admissions Website.
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