Will students be paid?
Whilst micro-internships are voluntary and unpaid, host organisations must reimburse interns with both local travel expenses (within the relevant city, e.g. Oxford, and not inter-city travel) and reasonable lunch expenses on submission of receipts for any days the student physically attends their internship. For any days a student completes their micro-internship remotely from their home, the host organisation will not be required to cover these expenses (unless they require them to undertake any travel as part of the internship).
I am unsure if the intended work experience is suitable for a micro-internship.
If you have questions about a work experience idea, please email us at micro-internships@careers.ox.ac.uk and a member of the Internship Office will be more than happy to discuss the idea with you. You can also download the guidance on Setting up a Remote Micro-Internship (PDF).
What is meant by ‘work shadowing’?
Micro-internships are designed to improve students’ professional employability skills and provide work experience. Work shadowing is considered to be an important subsidiary part of a micro-internship in allowing students to experience daily life in a professional environment.
Work shadowing can be informal, and can be any activity that helps an intern gain a holistic overview of the organisation, such as sitting in on meetings, assisting with day-to-day tasks, or observing a project or process.
Can I submit more than one proposal?
Organisations are welcome to submit more than one micro-internship opportunity, providing that adequate projects and supervision are arranged. If you would like to host different interns for separate projects, we ask that you create separate proposals.
How many micro-interns can I host?
Please note that we recommend a ratio of one supervisor to a maximum of three to five students. This is in line with our Internship Best Practice. The Internship Office can make recommendations based on your project. For new hosts, we advise starting with a lower number to assess capacity. Employers can specify the number of places on the micro-internship advert, but this number can remain flexible and dependent on the applications received.
Does the location of my organisation matter?
We are open to working with organisations no matter where they are located in the world, we just ask that any placements located outside the UK are completed remotely.
Can I meet with interns before the placement week?
We recommend organising a short Video (Zoom, Teams or Skype) or telephone induction prior to the placement week – this is often beneficial to both student and host, to meet colleagues and understand further details of the project. Should you arrange to physically meet the student, you will need to cover their local travel expenses.
Can I accept a student who has completed a micro-internship with us before?
Students are unable to repeat micro-internships with an employer as part of the Micro-Internship Programme – even if the micro-internship takes place in a different term or academic year. Students who previously completed a micro-internship with an employer are only eligible to apply again if the internship is deemed to be substantially different to the one that they completed previously. If you are unsure if the project is substantially different, please contact micro-internships@careers.ox.ac.uk.
Please note students can only undertake one micro-internship a term for a maximum of 5 days
Can I offer micro-interns additional placements outside of the Micro-Internship Programme?
The Micro-internships are designed as short-term voluntary, learning and development opportunities, therefore we do not allow hosts to extend the period in which the opportunity is undertaken. However, should you wish to employ the student outside of the programme you are welcome to do so. Please note that it is the responsibility of the host organisation to ensure that it complies with any employment law or other legal obligations including payment of National Minimum Wage (where applicable). The UK Government webpages provide useful information on minimum wage policy and employment rights for interns.
If you have any questions about the Micro-Internship Programme that are not answered here, or would like to express an interest in future participation in the programme, please contact us at micro-internships@careers.ox.ac.uk