All internships are credit-earning via the registration in the “International Internship for Mobility Students” at one of SiPN’s partner universities. Upon conclusion, students will receive a grade and will earn the corresponding ECTS, both of which will be included in their final transcript. At the end of the experience students are awarded with a grade, associated to the respective ECTS (6ECTS for part-time, 12 ECTS for full-time), both included in their final transcript.
The academic perspective of the experiential learning international mobility program is to provide students with opportunities for immersive, community-based and community-engaged learning, helping students to develop critical thinking skills as they engage first-hand with contemporary issues and challenges in local organizations. In addition to their work as interns or researchers, the students combine classroom topics, discussions, readings and films with site visits in Lisbon and Portugal intended to help them better comprehend these themes. This experiential learning component is mandatory.
Internship opportunities run the gamut from placements with governmental organizations, NGOs, INGOs, for-profit companies, research labs, etc. Most internships do not require Portuguese language proficiency. Research opportunities are available in the various research labs that are associated with SiPN´s partner universities in Lisbon. Should the student have some fluency in Portuguese, internship possibilities are virtually endless.
Moreover, some internships allow for part-time placements of 20h/week during summer 10h/week during semester, in these cases students earn 6 ECTS (usually go back as 3 US credits). Full-time internships require 40h/week over the summer (8 weeks) OR 20h/week over the semester (15 weeks) and typically earn 12 ECTS (up to 6 US credits).
All internship partners have been screened by SiPN and academic credits are awarded in accordance with a course syllabus developed by the instructor of record (available upon request).
All students enrolled in SiPN´s Experiential Learning will receive a grade for the class which along with the corresponding unit credit will be reflected in their transcript.
