Yes, all internships have to be based on an agreement between an institution of higher education, a company and an intern, signed by all parties before the beginning of the internship. The main goal of the agreement is to define the terms under which an internship will occur and to protect the intern, mainly in case of an accident at work or an occupational disease. It MUST be signed by all three parties.

No, you may not legally start your internship because you aren’t covered by any insurance and your internship isn’t validated or recognized by Sciences Po. You expose yourself to full financial responsability in case of an accident.

In accordance with the Rules Governing the Reception of Interns to the Workplace, all interns must be administratively registered at Sciences Po while on an internship, which is in your case until August 31.

To keep in mind for students doing a double degree: You can benefit from an internship agreement that lasts until August 31. However, international students must show proof of having French social security.

• Summary of key dates regarding your internship agreements:
  To validate your Masters degree and graduate in June, you must have completed an internship of at least 14 weeks (exceptions below) working full-time, in other words, the assessment form filled in at the end of your internship must have been sent to Sciences Po Careers by May 25. 
• Therefore :
  • If you start your internship between January and end of February/beginning of March : You will graduate in June (assuming that you have fulfilled all the conditions required to obtain a graduation certificate – article 44 – Academic Rules and Regulations).
  • If you start your internship between the beginning of March and May, 25: you will be considered a conditional graduate until the end of the obligatory 14 weeks of your internship (which must end before August 31 and assuming that you have fulfilled all the conditions required to obtain a graduation certificate – article 44 – Academic Rules and Regulations)

Special cases of internships allowed to last past 31 August - Until 31 December:

• Special cases of a late start might also be validated by exemption (for example due to medical reasons). In this case, please contact the Sciences Po Careers Office so that we may examine your situation along with your academic advisor.

Important : If your internship starts after May 25 (except for special cases described above), you are obliged to register for another semester at Sciences Po in order to graduate in March of next year. Please contact the administrative office.

For all students hoping to start an internship, an internship agreement is absolutely necessary. To know more.

If you are having technical issues while declaring your internship, you could try again using these tips :

• Try declaring your internship from a PC and not a MAC
• Do not copy-paste any text
• Do not use quotation marks or brackets
• If you are using the English version, you cannot use a comma when you declare your salary
• You cannot declare an internship that has already started. You can put in a « false » starting date at this point. Then you can have your host organization write an email confirming the correct dates and send it to us.

If the issues are not solved after you tried all this, please contact the Helpdesk (01.45.49.77.99 or sos@sciencespo.fr)

The administrative representative is the legal representative of the host organization (whoever is in charge for administrative procedures, it is often a recruiting coordinator in the human resources department). The internship supervisor is the person who recruited you and who supervises your daily activities. He/She is present at your daily workplace.

You can obtain this information by sending the preparatory form for the internship declaration to your employer.

Please verify the points listed below:

• I have finished my administrative registration at Sciences Po.
• The address of my internship supervisor is the same as that of my workplace.
• I have checked that my internship lasts less than 6 months or 924 hours.
• If the place of my internship is inside a risk zone according to the website of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I have asked for approval from the Sciences Po Department of Foreign Affairs and have transferred it to Sciences Po Careers by email.
• If I am doing an optional internship during my studies, I have asked for, received and transferred the approval of my academic advisor to  scpo.carrieres@sciencespo.fr
• If I am doing an internship during my gap year, I have checked whether a gap year is registered and approved on my student space

It is possible to do an internship abroad for your optional, mandatory or gap year internship. Only civic internships that are necessary for first year students doing a Bachelor degree have to be in France, unless the fiscal residence of the student is in the country where the internship is taking place.

Before going abroad for an internship, you have to keep in mind the safety advice and information of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs meant for travelers (countries are categorized into green, yellow, orange and red zones). If your internship project takes place in a zone of risk (orange or red), it is imperative that you contact by email the person in charge of the geographical region in the Sciences Po Department of International Affairs (DAI), putting Sciences Po Careers in copy in order to obtain approval for departure. Gaining this approval by email is obligatory and should be done before declaring your internship.

Yes, it is possible to do two internships of 4 to 6 months during your gap year. 

Student Internship Guide

According to French law, you should work 35 hours a week.

Yes, as long as it is in accordance with the objectives of the internship and that it was exceptionally and explicitly provided for by your internship agreement (due to an event, forum, etc.) In addition, other personnel working in the organisation also need to be obliged to work at night or during Sundays. However, if an intern works during a public holiday, it counts as a day of rest that can be used for another day.

You have the right to take a paid leave such as a vacation or other paid leaves that all personnel have the right to take, such as parental, maternal or family leave after the adoption or birth of a child. For internships that last longer than 2 months, or 308 hours, the internship agreement must provide for the possibility of taking a paid leave. This is necessary for such cases as attending obligatory lessons at your university. You might not necessarily get paid for that period.

Please note that Sciences Po doesn’t provide amendments for vacation days that should have been foreseen and approved by the employer.

Yes, under certain conditions: the authorization has to be given by both Sciences Po Careers and the employer.

No: The law n° 2014-788 of 10th of July 2014 for the Development, Supervision of Internships and the Improvement of the Trainees' Status as well as the Decree N° 2017-1652 of 30 November 2017 amending the provisions of the Code of Education on internships and training periods do not allow teleworking during internships. Since teleworking is governed by the Labor Code, it is only possible for employees.

Yes, but this internship cannot last more than 21h per week in order to allow you enough time for your courses. You must discuss your project with your academic advisor who must send his written agreement to scpo.carrieres@sciencespo.fr.

As a Sciences Po student, you must be affiliated, according to your nationality, either to the French Social Security, to the regime of your country of origin, or even to be subscribed to a private insurance. It is your responsibility to make sure that you are enrolled in one of the given organizations.

In addition, Sciences Po covers you, through its MAIF insurance contract, within the context of Sciences Po's activities and during your internships. You will find all the information relating to the coverage of the MAIF in your Student space.

Yes, the intern has access to the restaurant of the organization under the same conditions as the employees of the host organization.

Yes, the intern is entitled to meal vouchers under the same conditions as the employees of the host organization.

Yes, the intern has access to the social and cultural activities of the host organization under the same conditions as the employees.

The intern has the right to the same conditions as the employees of the host organization when it comes to transport expenses.

Some organisations may ask you for membership or a paid subscription to give you access to various services (proofreading of your CV, database of internship and job offers, work placement abroad, support, etc.). Before committing:

• Check the trustworthiness of the organisation to avoid any disappointment (very high cost, internship offers not adapted to your profile, etc.): do not hesitate to check the legal functions of the structure,
• Organise a meeting (physical, telephone, etc.) with your contact person to ensure reliability of the content and of the service offered to you as well as all related costs,
• Get in touch with former subscribers to the organisation in order to find out what they think!

"An employer who employs an intern must pay him a minimum stipend. It is exempted from social contributions (under certain conditions). This obligation applies to companies, public administrations, local authorities, health institutions, associations or any other host organization. As the trainee is not considered as an employee, the stipend is not treated as a salary, remuneration, or an indemnity."

Know more (in French): Service Public.fr

The stipend is due on the first day of the first month of the internship. It is required for each hour that the intern is present in the host organization and must be paid monthly. You can calculate your internship hours and multiply them by the legal hourly rate (Find here a simulator in French).

If the intern is present, he/she will get paid. If he/she is not, it is up to the organization whether to pay the intern.

According to the legal principle of territoriality, the French law on stipends does not apply abroad. The host organization does not always have to pay you a stipend, it has to follow the law of the country where the internship is being held.

Sciences Po Careers accepts agreements that are not from Sciences Po after checking the legal notice. The internship declaration online is still mandatory in order to validate the purpose and conditions of this internship.

The internship agreement has to be signed by all five parties listed below:

• The host organization (the administrative representative of the company)
• The tutor (the person who supervises the intern during my the internship)
• The intern

Sciences Po Careers signs for Frédéric Mion and for the academic advisor in charge of the intern. (There is no use to sending the internship agreement to your academic advisor.)

Please keep in mind that your academic advisor does not sign the agreement personally. His name has to appear on in article 8 of the French internship agreement or at the bottom of the bilingual internship agreement. There is no point in to sending the internship agreement to your academic advisor.

Usually, Sciences Po is the last one to sign. Exceptionally and on request, Sciences Po can allow an exception and sign before. Please contact our services.

Yes, with the agreement of the organization, but the request to extend an internship must be made before the end of your internship and must not exceed 6 months. If your extension request is made after the end of your internship, it will no longer be possible to establish an addendum. A new internship declaration will then be necessary. Please note that the total duration of your internship must not exceed 6 months of actual presence, or 924 hours.

Each signatory of your internship agreement must give their consent to modify its terms. Therefore, the agreement of your host organization is necessary to validate your request for early termination of the internship.

Without this agreement (which must be sent to us by email), Sciences Po Careers will not be able to approve your request for termination.

If certain rules are not respected (serious misconduct, non-compliance with discipline, confidentiality, safety, schedules, etc.), the host organization must inform Sciences Po Careers, which will take the necessary measures.

An addendum for internship termination must be declared on your student portal with the agreement of Sciences Po Careers.

Yes, Sciences Po can terminate the internship if the conditions for the internship are not respected by the host organization or the student. The educational institution will inform all concerned parties in advance. An addendum for the termination of the internship agreement must then be signed.

Yes, you can send your modification requests to the address scpo.carrieres@sciencespo.fr, and they will do it for you. If this is not possible, a new internship declaration will be required.

Yes, a signed agreement can be modified by an addendum. You can send an email to scpo.carrieres@sciencespo.fr mentioning the changes that need to be made to the agreement.