Work placements and international experience

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Venice.
Photo: Chalmers student William Jörnelius.

The alliances and networks of which Chalmers is part of provide other opportunities to gain international experience in addition to the Erasmus+ and Global exchange programmes. For example, through work placements (internships/traineeships), summer schools or double degrees. These enable students to gain international experience and broaden their skills.

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Switzerland.
Photographer: Chalmersstudenten Johan Hodges Dexner

Combine exchange studies with internships

Unitech International

Unitech includes an exchange at a university, a work placement at a leading company and personal development in managerial skills. This programme is open to students enrolled in year 3 of an MSc in Engineering programme. Participation in the programme takes place during year 4. The programme provides a management dimension and a unique opportunity to learn how to work in a borderless Europe. The network includes seven prominent European universities and a number of European companies with offices around the world.

Within UNITECH International, universities collaborate with companies to create an exchange with internships adapted to the programme. An internship must last at least twelve weeks and can be done virtually anywhere in the world.
List of collaborating companies

A total of 90 credits are to have been awarded on completion of the programme.

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Ireland.
Photographer: Chalmersstudenten Hugo Löfgren

Traineeships

Erasmus+ Grant for Traineeship

Note: in this text we use the terms traineeship and internship interchangeably!

Starting from 2024: two application periods will be opened during the year.

Applications for traineeship grants through Erasmus+ are open from 15 February to 1 April (for traineeships starting between June and December). The second application round opens from 15 September to 1 November (for traineeships starting between January and May).

You can apply for an Erasmus+ traineeship grant as an active student at Chalmers when you intend to do an internship at a company, organisation or research centre in Europe. It is also possible to do an internship to collect data for your thesis at a partner university if this is allowed by your supervisor/examiner at Chalmers. To be eligible for an Erasmus+ traineeship grant, the traineeship period must be at least 60 days and a maximum of 12 months.

The grant is not meant to cover all cost. It is an additional support to cover expenses during your internship period.

You are responsible to collect the information prior to the application and you are expected to handle many steps on your own. Remember to prepare your application as early as possible before the start of the internship.

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Japan.
Photographer: Chalmersstudenten Sebastian Rye

IAESTE 

IAESTE offers paid internships for engineers and architects in 80 countries around the world. You have the opportunity to do a summer work placement of 2–3 months, or a longer internship of six months or a year.  Iaeste's website

Link to Iaeste internship portal
If you have any questions, please email: iaestesweden@chalmers.se 

IDEA League Student Grant 

The programme was designed to promote student collaboration. It allows students to complete an internship or parts of their degree project at one of the partner universities via an internship.

The IDEA League is a network comprising five leading European universities of science and technology. The members of the network are TU Delft, RWTH Aachen, ETH Zürich, Politecnico di Milano and Chalmers.
More information at Idea League website

Shorter exchanges

Enhance

Through the Enhance network, you can study so-called "micro-credentials" where you go on a shorter exchange and study courses at another university in Europe. Information about "micro-credentials" and other shorter learning activities within Enhance has been collected on their website.

Micro credentials and other learning activities

Several European technical universities cooperate in the Enhance alliance, the European Universities of Technology Alliance, which was is an alliance within in the European Universities initiative.

Language exchange

Enhance Language Tandem

Within Enhance there is an opportunity to participate in the Language Tandem project, the purpose of which is for you as a student to improve your language skills and gain new contacts in the process. Through online conversations, you get the opportunity to make new contacts and practice your skills in the following languages: German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish and Ukrainian.
More information about Enhance Language Tandems

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Venice, Italy.
Photographer: Chalmersstudenten Petra Hjelm

Summer schools

Enhance summer school

Summer and winter schools through Enhance offer an opportunity to participate in various activities developed to address current technological, social, and environmental issues from a sustainable and inclusive perspective.

More information about summer and winter schools

IDEA League Summer Schools 

These summer schools offer students doing Master’s programmes and doctoral students a unique opportunity to discover new paths in their ongoing studies or research. They will also be able to improve their skills and academic competence. They have the opportunity to network outside the programme with their peers from partner universities.
More information about IDEA League Summer schools 

IDEA League coordinator at Chalmers:

Victoria Schönberg
  • Coordinator, Student and Education Office, Chalmers Operations Support

Double Degree

Cooperation with universities in Germany and France

Through cooperation with univiersities in Germany and France students are offered the opportunity to study for a double Master’s degree. After one year of studies at Chalmers and one year at a partner university, you will receive two Master’s degrees. An additional Master’s degree provides great benefits, for example if you want to continue working in the country where you studied.

University of Stuttgart (Tyskland)

EURECOM (Frankrike)

Nordic Five Tech

You can obtain double Master’s degrees due to a well-established Nordic collaboration between Chalmers, KTH, NTNU in Norway, Aalto in Finland and DTU in Denmark – the University of Iceland is involved in a track within a programme as well. Nordic Five Tech involves one year of study at Chalmers and one year at one of the partner universities, but not at both Chalmers and KTH.
Nordic Five Tech site