Internship

Bachelor's Programme GPM internships

In the Geography, Planning and Environment (GPE) Bachelor’s Programme, the third year includes a semester for elective courses, a period studying abroad or an internship. Instead of taking regular courses in the credits available for electives, it is also possible to do an internship equal to 12 EC. Further information will be provided in the Bachelor programme. For questions and plannings, please contact Jackie van de Walle (jackie.vandewalle@ru.nl) on time (at least 3 months before the start of the internship). Further information via Brightspace, enroll via Osiris voor Stage Bachelor GPM (MAN-BCU361).

Internships as part of the Master's programmes

The rules for internships as part of the Human Geography (HG), Spatial Planning (SP) and Environment and Society Studies (ESS) master’s programmes are not exactly the same, there are some differences between the programmes. Therefore, the internship regulations are described below for each master's programme.

• Human Geography Master’s internships
• Spatial Planning Master’s internships
• Environment and Society Studies Master’s internships

There is a list of internship organisations where students could apply for an internship. Of course you are free to do an internship at any other place.

HG: Human Geography Master’s internships

In the master’s programme Human Geography, the research for the Master’s thesis is conducted based on the framework of a mandatory research internship. In addition to gaining some work experience in a practical context, you will primarily perform your Master’s thesis research. The main learning objective of this research internship is to make your Master’s thesis research of practical use to the internship organisation. You are therefore expected to focus your research questions on the knowledge needs of the organisation, and thus to contribute to solving the practical problems of the internship organisation.

You can also do your Human Geography Master’s programme as part of a dual programme, in which you combine paid work for a professional organisation with your Master’s programme. This results in the entire programme taking a bit longer.

SP: Spatial Planning Master’s internships

The Master’s programme of Spatial Planning offers the possibility to do an internship as part of the Master’s thesis research project. However, an internship is not obligatory as part of the Spatial Planning Master.

For students who aim to gain extra work experience, it is possible to do the Master’s programme as part of a dual programme variant, combining work experience in multiple internships with the educational Spatial Planning programme.

(Note: In both the Human Geography as well as the Environment Society Studies educational Master’s programmes, an external internship is obligatory – this is not the case in the Spatial Planning Master’s programme).

ESS: Environment and Society Studies Master’s internships

The Master’s thesis research project is an important part of the Environment and Society Studies educational programme. This will be carried out at a commissioning or hosting organisation outside the university, e.g. at a consultancy organisation, a municipality or at a Ministry, or with a company or research organisation. The internship is normally done on the basis of a four-day week. In many cases, students reserve one day during the week in order to take an optional course, carry out field work or to stay at home to write their thesis.

The research project is the basis of the Master’s thesis and will be conducted during approximately four months of research (normally in the period from February to July). Naturally, students can choose to work longer at the external organisation concerned.