Internship for a KEDGE student: shaping a genuinely professional experience

An internship requirement built into every programme

According to the information the school publishes, KEDGE programmes include a compulsory internship period of at least six months. This general benchmark does not replace reading the rules of the specific programme you follow: how the time is split between several periods, which dates are allowed, whether a substitute is possible and how the placement is validated can all differ from one course to another.

The sensible habit is therefore to start from your own programme’s documents, not from a rumour passed around your year group. Note the deadlines for submitting the placement agreement, the minimum length of each period, the format of the report or assessment expected and the person to whom you should address questions. This groundwork avoids the unpleasant discovery, once an offer is accepted, that it does not fit the framework.

The search support the school offers

KEDGE describes several kinds of support: lecture-hall sessions on internship-search methodology, which explain the procedures, the tools available and the agreement process; workshops on finding an internship, run with the internships office and the Career Centre; and, if you are struggling badly, an individual appointment with a coordinator.

These meetings are far more useful when you arrive with a summary of where you stand: how many applications you have sent, what replies you have had and why you think you were turned down. An adviser can then target the real obstacle, whether it is the CV, the choice of companies or the way you present yourself at interview.

Choose an assignment that produces something

A sales, logistics or management assignment is better when it ends with an identifiable result. When you talk to the company, ask: “What will we have produced together by the end of the internship?”

Some examples of realistic deliverables:

• a segmented prospect map the sales team can actually use;
• a dashboard tracking delivery times, with commented indicators;
• a written procedure for handling customer complaints;
• a comparative study of three suppliers with a reasoned recommendation.

An explicit deliverable makes conversation with your supervisor easier, reassures your academic tutor and gives you a concrete achievement to cite in future applications.

Check the supervision before you say yes

The quality of an internship often depends less on the job title than on the person who looks after you. Ask simple questions at interview: who will be your supervisor? How much time can they give you each week? How will your work be reviewed? How many other interns does the team take on?

A supervisor who takes the time to introduce you to colleagues, read through your work and give precise feedback saves you months of learning. By contrast, an internship with no identified manager often ends in scattered tasks. French regulations also expect the host organisation to appoint a supervisor responsible for welcoming and following the intern.

The placement agreement: a step you cannot skip

In France, an internship requires an agreement signed by three parties: the student, the host organisation and the school. It sets out the dates, the tasks, the weekly hours, any stipend, the remote-working conditions and the names of the supervisor and the academic tutor.

Keep to one simple rule: no work starts before everyone has signed. Send the company the required details in an organised way as soon as you have agreed verbally, check the dates and the exact place of work, then follow the validation by the relevant school department. If the company offers its own template or asks for confidentiality clauses, tell the school before you sign.

Stipend and practical conditions: read the offer closely

Once an internship runs beyond two consecutive months, the host organisation owes a minimum stipend. Its level is set by regulation and changes over time, so check it with the company and the internships office when you sign, rather than trusting a figure you read on a forum.

Beyond the amount, compare:

• the location and the cost of housing in the city concerned;
• whether transport and meals are covered;
• the working rhythm and the possibility of remote work;
• the exact length and end date, which matters if you are going straight on to a semester abroad.

This full reading of the offer spares you unpleasant surprises once you have moved.

An illustrative six-month internship project

By way of illustration, take a student interested in logistics who is aiming for six months at a regional distribution company. They propose three objectives: map the delays across three warehouses, identify the two most frequent causes and test an improvement at one pilot site.

The timetable might run like this: the first month for discovery and data collection, the second and third for analysis, the fourth and fifth for the trial, and the last month for presenting the results to management. Even if the real figures differ, this breakdown makes the internship readable for the company and the school alike, and gives you a framework for the final presentation.

Keep a learning journal during the internship

Each week, write down the decisions taken, the feedback received and the mistakes corrected. This journal has three uses: preparing progress meetings with your supervisor, writing the report your programme requires and showing, in future interviews, how your way of working has developed.

Pay attention to wording: instead of writing “I took part in a project”, say what you decided, calculated, negotiated or presented. When the assignment ends, ask for a review conversation and, where appropriate, a written reference or an introduction to another department in the company.