Internship for a Sciences Po Paris student: framework, agreement and choice of assignment

One word, several realities depending on your route

At Sciences Po, the word “internship” does not describe a single experience. An undergraduate looking for a first brush with the working world is not in the same position as a master’s student whose degree requires a period in a host organisation. Depending on the course, the experience may be optional, encouraged or compulsory, and the declaration rules vary accordingly.

What they share is the educational logic: an internship governed by an agreement is a period of training, not a disguised job. The tasks must be linked to the course you are following or to your career plans, and a supervisor must follow your progress. This framework is what separates an internship from a simple part-time job.

Before you start applying, the first question is therefore a simple one: which category does the experience you are aiming for belong to? Confirm the answer with the school’s internships and careers service, because it is the one that triggers the agreement.

The compulsory master’s internship: the rules the school publishes

For second-year master’s students, the internship is part of the course. According to the information published by Sciences Po, the main benchmarks are as follows.

• Length: at least 14 weeks and at most 26 weeks, full time.
• Period: the internship takes place during the semester spent away from the campus and must fit within the administrative enrolment period, which runs until 31 August.
• Content: tasks related to your course or to your career plans.
• Supervisor: follows the internship from start to finish, must be physically present at the workplace and easy to reach. A few days of remote work per week are possible, depending on the host organisation’s rules.
• Credits: the internship is worth 30 ECTS credits, based on the supervisor’s assessment.

Some master’s programmes add requirements of their own. In economic law, for example, the programme director’s prior agreement is required before the placement agreement is drawn up. Read the page for your master’s before fixing any dates with an employer.

Declare the internship, then have the agreement signed

The process begins with an online declaration, followed by the drawing up of the agreement. For any internship in France, the agreement is compulsory and must be signed by all parties before the first day. Without it, you cannot legally start, you are not covered by the insurance provided, and the experience is neither validated nor recognised.

1. Get the organisation’s agreement in principle, along with the name of its administrative contact and of your supervisor.
2. Make the online declaration with the school’s careers service.
3. Allow about five working days for validation; putting the start date in day, month, year format in the subject line of any email speeds up processing.
4. Have the agreement signed in order: yourself, the organisation’s administrative contact, then the supervisor.

Two situations call for particular foresight. An internship in an area classed as orange or red requires approval from the international affairs department, to be obtained before the declaration. And for an internship abroad, signing the school’s agreement is not always compulsory, but it is strongly recommended to protect the student.

Choosing your field: public affairs, international, media, consultancy

The profile of Sciences Po students opens very different doors. It is better to start from the actual work than from the name of the organisation.

Public affairs and institutions

Ministerial offices, local authorities, parliaments, administrative authorities, think tanks: the tasks revolve around briefing notes, regulatory monitoring, preparing files and following legislation. These internships are sought after, and applications need to be prepared early.

International and multilateral organisations

International organisations, embassies, European institutions, development agencies, NGOs: they expect languages, rigorous writing and sometimes geographical flexibility. Some organisations take interns on a rolling basis, others in sessions.

Business, consultancy, communications

Public affairs departments, communications, corporate social responsibility, consultancies or agencies: interns analyse files, prepare materials and take part in competitor monitoring.

Media, culture, research

Newsrooms, publishers, cultural institutions or research centres offer more editorial assignments, often with irregular rhythms.

Applying: CV, cover letter and interview

A recruiter who receives many applications from students of leading schools does not tell candidates apart by the name of the degree alone. What makes the difference is precision.

• The CV fits on one page and highlights verifiable achievements: a dissertation, a study carried out in a group, a voluntary role with a described result.
• The cover letter explains why this organisation, which question interests you and what you can produce in a few months. Avoid interchangeable phrases.
• The interview often includes an exercise: commenting on a current-affairs topic in two minutes, summarising a document, reacting to a file. Practise structuring an idea in three points.

Also discreetly contact people in the alumni network. A twenty-minute conversation about the daily life of a team helps you adjust an application better than a template found online.

Stipend, length and intern’s rights

Beyond a certain length of time spent in the same organisation, an internship carries a compulsory stipend whose minimum amount is set by regulation and may change from one year to the next. Internships of more than two months are in principle subject to it; the school’s page on the master’s internship does not specify an amount, so check the applicable rule with the internships service and with the host organisation.

Public bodies and certain international institutions have rules of their own: an internal scale, a flat-rate allowance or, in some cases, no payment at all. Ask the question before accepting, clearly but without aggression, and insist that the agreement reflects what was announced.

Interns also have rights that are not negotiable: regulated hours and leave, access to the same services as employees (canteen, transport) and protection in the event of an accident. An internship must not replace a permanent post.

Illustrative example: a master’s internship in European affairs

Take a fictional case, with rounded figures for the sake of demonstration. Camille, in the second year of a master’s, is aiming for an organisation that monitors European Union policy. She begins her search in the autumn, sends a dozen targeted applications and gets three interviews.

• Length chosen: 20 weeks, between the minimum and the maximum the school allows.
• Tasks: monitoring public consultations, writing three position papers, preparing a meeting with partners.
• Supervisor: a team leader, with a thirty-minute weekly meeting.
• Timetable: online declaration as soon as the agreement in principle is reached, agreement signed well before the first day.

This scenario is only an illustration: the real length, tasks and pay depend on each organisation and on the master’s you follow.

Mistakes that cost dearly

• Starting before the agreement is signed, out of trust in the employer: this is exactly the case in which the student ends up with no cover and no validation.
• Declaring late: the validation time and the successive signatures take longer than people expect, especially at the start of the academic year or at year end.
• Forgetting the prior approval required by some master’s programmes or by the international affairs department for sensitive areas.
• Accepting a vague assignment, made up of administrative tasks unrelated to your course.
• Neglecting the supervisor: an absent manager cannot assess the internship, and the assessment counts towards the credits.
• Exceeding the window of the administrative enrolment by extending the assignment.

Preparing the review and respecting confidentiality

The internship ends with an assessment by the supervisor and, depending on the course, a report or presentation. From the first month, keep a logbook: tasks, documents produced, people met, difficulties. This notebook then feeds the review and your future applications.

A solid review shows your method: how you identified sources, how you cross-checked them and what limits your conclusions have. An internship of a few months cannot settle every debate, and acknowledging that is a sign of maturity.

Finally, beware of internal information. Unpublished notes, client data, exchanges with administrations: ask your supervisor what may appear in a report and in what anonymised form.