15 Internships Abroad for Undergraduates
- Stephen Turban
- 2 hours ago
- 13 min read
For undergraduates, internships are valuable ways to build professional skills, plan for their future career path, build connections in academia and industry, and strengthen their resume. Interning abroad can be a great opportunity for college students to spend time overseas while simultaneously expanding their academic skillset.
In this blog, we’ve identified 15 top internships abroad for undergraduate students to help you gain professional experience. All these internships are open to United States citizens, with many also admitting permanent residents and international students, and include opportunities across Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. We’ve also made sure to identify opportunities for students in all disciplines. Whether you study STEM, social sciences, or humanities, you can find a strong option here.
We’ve taken into account academic rigor, strength of career or graduate school preparation, opportunities to network, and prestige while curating our list. If you're looking for more prestigious internships, check out this set of blogs!
15 Internships Abroad for Undergraduates
Location: UNICEF offices worldwide. Current openings include Chile, Hungary, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and the United Kingdom
Stipend: Monthly stipend plus one time support for travel and visa costs
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective
Dates: Varies. Internship length ranges from 6 to 26 weeks
Application Deadline: Varies by internship
Eligibility: Undergraduate, graduate, or PhD students, or recent graduates within 2 years. Must be at least 18 years old. No immediate relatives working for UNICEF. Proficiency in English, French, or Spanish required. Some placements require additional language or academic criteria
UNICEF internships place students at global UNICEF sites to complete child-focused humanitarian work with a wide range of disciplinary focuses. Your internship experience might include monitoring press coverage and policy in Vietnam, supporting organizational operations of the UNICEF Chile office, analyzing educational outcomes of refugee children in the UK, or coordinating collaborative initiatives with government agencies. As a large international organization, interns’ responsibilities and tasks will vary greatly across programs, but each placement will put you in a hands-on role directly supporting regional UNICEF operations.
Location: First summer in Washington, D.C. and a U.S. Department of State policy office. Second summer at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad
Stipend: Hourly pay of $14.51 to $18.86 plus funding for travel and housing
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective
Dates: 10 weeks each summer for two consecutive summers
Application Deadline: Applications open in late August for the following summer. Deadline not provided
Eligibility: U.S. citizens able to obtain and maintain Secret Security clearance. Students apply in sophomore or junior year and commit to a two year program. Minimum 3.2 GPA
The U.S. Department of State offers paid internships over two consecutive summers to expose undergraduate students to the inner workings of U.S. diplomacy, both domestically and abroad. In your first summer, you’ll work in the United States, completing three weeks of training in professional policy skills before working directly for one of the national State Department offices. In the following summer, you’ll be placed in a 10-week internship abroad in an international U.S. Embassy or Consulate to support policy and diplomacy research and operations. Between the two internships, you’ll take the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT) to further develop your professional skills and gain credentials for post-graduate work in diplomacy and international relations.
Location: UNHCR offices in Geneva, Amman, Budapest, Copenhagen, and other field locations
Stipend: Allowance for transportation and living expenses. Amount varies by placement
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective
Dates: Varies. Full time internships last 2 to 6 months. Extensions up to 2 additional months available
Application Deadline: Varies by internship
Eligibility: Rising undergraduate juniors and seniors, graduate students, or recent graduates within 2 years. Field of study must relate to placement. English proficiency required. Knowledge of Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, or other languages preferred. Some roles include additional academic or language requirements
Students interested in supporting the rights and well-being of refugees can pursue internship opportunities through the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Internships focus on areas such as data management, energy and environment, economics, communications, and education. You’ll apply to a specialized opportunity at one of UNHCR’s international offices. Each internship has individual assignments, work focuses, and disciplinary requirements. You’ll apply your academic strengths to initiatives supporting the protection of refugees in your host country. Focuses might include analyzing and reporting data on asylum seekers or refugees, tracking national immigration and asylum policies, and developing refugee support strategies.
Location: CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
Stipend: Approx $5,000 plus travel reimbursement
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective. 12 to 15 students
Dates: 9 weeks from June to August
Application Deadline: January 3
Eligibility: Rising undergraduate juniors and seniors in physics, engineering, or computer science planning to pursue graduate study. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents
The dual University of Michigan and CERN internship for undergraduates provides a 9-week intensive research experience in physics. After completing initial training at UMich, you’ll head abroad to Geneva to begin working at CERN, where you’ll be paired with a CERN researcher matching your interests and skills. You’ll pursue a hands-on project in nuclear fusion, quantum physics, astro-particle physics, particle physics, and/or high energy physics. Outside of research, you’ll be exposed to CERN facilities like the Large Hadron Collider centre and participate in CERN’s Summer Student Lecture Programme to expand your knowledge of nuclear physics through seminars with physicists from across the world.
Location: WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, and Regional Offices across Africa, South East Asia, the Americas, Eastern Mediterranean, and Western Pacific
Cost/Stipend: Some interns receive a living allowance based on financial eligibility
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective. Most postings seek 1 to 2 interns
Dates: 6 to 24 weeks. Dates vary by office and region
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: Students who completed at least three years of full time post secondary study. Open to undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students. Field of study must align with WHO work. Minimum age is 20. Fluency in at least one working language required, often English
Students interested in healthcare, public health, medicine, sociology, or broad communications fields can apply their skills to international healthcare improvement through WHO’s undergraduate internships. You’ll apply to a position at WHO Headquarters or one of WHO’s Regional Offices to address global health questions across health systems, noncommunicable and communicable diseases, and health emergencies. Each internship and placement site varies in terms of academic requirements, responsibilities, and work focuses, but all interns will be expected to directly contribute to the operations of the office placement. Topics might include researching the future impact of climate change on global health, developing international health policy campaigns, or analyzing health outcomes data in your assigned country.
Location: Multiple international bureaus across Africa, East Asia and Pacific Islands, Europe and Eurasia, Near East, South and Central Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. U.S. placements available in Washington, D.C. and New York City
Cost/Stipend: Prorated monthly pay of about $2,315 plus funding for travel and housing
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective
Dates: Summer runs from May or July to August or September. Fall runs from September or December to December or January. Spring runs from January or March to April or May. Exact dates vary
Application Deadline: Summer deadlines fall in November. Fall deadlines fall in March. Spring deadlines fall in August
Eligibility: Undergraduate juniors and seniors with a minimum 3.2 GPA and graduate students. U.S. citizenship required with ability to obtain Public Trust, Secret, or Top Secret clearance
Undergraduates interested in foreign affairs, government, and public policy can consider the U.S. Department of State Student Internship Program. You’ll be placed in one of the State Department’s international bureaus, focusing on your preferred focus area, such as Human Rights and Labor, Political-Military Affairs, Diplomatic Security, Legislative Affairs, and Global Talent Management. You’ll attend and contribute to meetings with senior U.S. and foreign government officials, draft political reports for U.S. foreign policy initiatives, support the planning of international policy meetings and conferences, and develop communication materials to improve knowledge of U.S. culture and policy to audiences abroad.
Location: University of Michigan (1 week) and six universities in Paris, France, check which universities on the site
Cost/Stipend: $6,000 plus funded travel, food, and lodging
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective. 8 students
Dates: May 26 to July 30
Application Deadline: January 22
Eligibility: Rising undergraduate seniors who are U.S. citizens or green card holders. No required major. Students must be prepared for advanced physics research
The Optics in the City of Light internship is a partnership between the University of Michigan and six Parisian universities, hosting about 8 undergraduates each year for a 9-week physics research program. You’ll start by completing training at the University of Michigan’s Gérard Mourou Center for Ultrafast Optical Science to prepare for lab work, research reporting, and advanced optical science. You’ll also prepare an initial research pitch to prepare for your work in France. You’ll then travel to Paris to begin your research in ultrafast optics, high-intensity focused lasers, and diagnostic tools, working alongside faculty mentors from UMich and your primary French institute to complete a project matched with your interest areas. Throughout the internship, you’ll maintain a blog to report your progress to the rest of the intern cohort and program mentors. While you’ll be working with a specific research team to complete your project, you’ll be able to access research facilities and libraries across all six institutions, encouraging you to collaborate with your peers in the program.
Location: Split between CERN in Geneva, Switzerland and Duke University in Durham, NC
Cost/Stipend: $7,000 plus housing. Supplemental funding for meals and expenses. $600 for travel. Airfare included for travel to Switzerland
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective
Dates: 10 weeks during the summer
Application Deadline: January 29
Eligibility: Current undergraduates who completed at least a sophomore level physics course such as Modern Physics or equivalent. U.S. citizens or permanent residents only
Students interested in high-energy physics, particle physics, or nuclear physics can pursue the co-hosted Research Experience for Undergraduates, organized by Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory members (Duke, NCCU, NCSU, and UNC-Chapel Hill) and CERN. You’ll start the program at Duke, where you’ll be paired with a research group from TUNL to begin a project in nuclear and particle physics affiliated with TUNL or high-energy particle physics with Duke’s High-Energy Physics (HEP) research group. After 3-4 weeks, students in the latter group will head to Switzerland to continue their research at CERN, the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Outside of research, you’ll network with peers, graduate students, professional researchers, and faculty to plan for your next steps after college. While at Duke, you’ll also attend weekly TUNL Informal Lunch Talks (TILT) gatherings with grad students and postdocs. You’ll continue learning through a lecture and seminar series on topics like physics developments throughout history, neutrino physics, dark matter, and more. At the end of the program, you’ll deliver an oral presentation on your research findings.
Location: French institutions including University of Toulouse, University of Strasbourg, Sorbonne Université in Paris, and AgroParisTech in Reims
Cost/Stipend: $6,000 stipend plus $1,000 travel allowance. Free housing. Up to $1,000 to attend the American Chemical Society National Meeting the following year
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective
Dates: 11 to 12 weeks during the summer, usually May to August
Application Deadline: January 20
Eligibility: Current undergraduates in chemistry, biochemistry, or a related STEM field. U.S. citizens or permanent residents. DACA students eligible for AgroParisTech and Reims sites. Applicants planning medical, dental, veterinary, or law school should not apply. Prior research experience required
The International Research Experience in Chemistry takes undergraduate students abroad for a three-month internship at one of five partner universities in France. You’ll be matched with an institution and research team of graduate students, postdocs, and professors based on your interests and spend the majority of your time in the lab working on an ongoing project. While all opportunities center around chemistry, sub-focuses include biochemistry, engineering, materials science, and physics. Other internship activities include networking with faculty and researchers, educational workshops, and attending local events. Due to the depth of research participation, interns are often listed as co-authors on publications after the project is completed.
Location: Lesvos, Greece, and the University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK
Stipend: Stipend plus funded international travel, housing, and meals
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective
Dates: June 2 - July 25
Application Deadline: Applications open in January; check the site for the deadline
Eligibility: Undergraduate students who are U.S. citizens and permanent residents | Check the application on the site for updated criteria.
Ideal for students interested in ecology, evolutionary biology, or environmental science, the REU Pollinator Program in Greece provides an 8-week research internship focused on studying pollination and honey bees. You’ll spend the first week of the internship at the University of Central Oklahoma for intensive study of research methodology and experimental design for pollinator research. You’ll travel to Lesvos, Greece, to do field research of the island’s local bee population. There you’ll study topics including foraging behaviors, ecophysiological phenotypes of solitary and honey bees, and genomic and molecular makeups informing bee behavior. The research experience aims to not only understand the ecology and biology of bees themselves; you’ll also explore the implications of climate and environmental dynamics to agriculture in the U.S., Greece, and beyond.
Location: Host institutions include Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany, University of Padova in Italy, University of Glasgow in Scotland, Laboratoire Kastler Brossel at Sorbonne Université in France, and other sites
Cost/Stipend: $6,950 stipend plus travel health insurance, travel allowance, and paid housing
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective
Dates: 9 to 10 weeks from late May to early August
Application Deadline: January 13. Late applications considered on a rolling basis
Eligibility: Undergraduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Priority for students from underrepresented groups or schools with limited research resources. Physics or related field required
University of Florida’s REU in Physics provides undergraduate students a 9-10 week internship opportunity to pursue research abroad in Europe. After submitting a research topic proposal, you’ll be assigned to an international lab sharing your research focuses with placements including the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics and the Sorbonne Université. The majority of your experience will revolve around intensive research, including laboratory experimentation, quantitative and data analysis, and programming. Your research might entail topics like developing novel gravitational wave detectors, investigating gravitational-wave data quality, studying the astronomy of black hole mergers, and more. At the end of the program, you’ll write a formal scientific research paper and present your findings to the internship cohort.
Location: International placements include offices in Denmark, Greece, Indonesia, Morocco, Vietnam, Sweden, Poland, and Canada
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective
Dates: 2-3 months in length during the summer
Application Deadline: Priority deadline of June 23 and final deadline of September 3
Eligibility: Undergraduate juniors and seniors, as well as non-MBA master’s students | Academic requirements vary by internship subject area; some have additional language requirements
BCG’s summer internships allow undergraduates to apply their skills to the management consulting sector in offices around the world. You’ll apply to internships matching your disciplinary interests, with options in Technology & Engineering, Data Science & Analytics, Consulting, and Finance. You’ll be assigned to work with a designated consulting case team, research group, or technology team supporting BCG’s work. Depending on placement, you might complete tasks from engineering in-house AI software, developing business strategies for clients, completing industry research, or applying data analysis to operations improvement. You’ll also receive structured mentorship from current employees, attend networking events, and receive professional skills training.
Location: UNDP country offices and regional hubs worldwide
Stipend: Monthly stipend. Amount varies by location
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective. Most roles seek 1 to 2 interns
Dates: Varies. Internships last up to 6 or 9 months. Shorter options available
Application Deadline: Varies by internship
Eligibility: Undergraduate seniors, master’s students, and recent graduates within one year. Some placements require specific academic backgrounds or language proficiency
Undergraduate students seeking an internship opportunity abroad before beginning a full-time career can consider working with the United Nations Development Program to contribute to humanitarian causes across the world. You’ll apply to work in one of UNDP’s focus areas at a country office or regional hub, seeking interns with your skill set. Based on your placement, your work might include supporting oversight of government operations and democracy in your host country, monitoring implementation of UNDP’s programs, collecting and analyzing data from UNDP initiatives, and completing research on local development and law.
Location: Abbott offices worldwide
Cost/Stipend: Paid
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Very selective
Dates: 12 week programs. Timelines vary by year
Application Deadline: Not available. Varies by internship
Eligibility: Current undergraduates with a minimum 3.0 GPA. Some roles require specific academic backgrounds or regional language proficiency
At Abbott Laboratories’ undergraduate internships abroad, you’ll work for a specialized department within an international healthcare technology company. Placement areas include Engineering, Environmental Health, and Finance and Accounting, among others. Based on the broad disciplinary options, responsibilities vary greatly; however, you’ll be integrated directly into Abbot teams to contribute to projects across financial management, pharmaceutical research and development, marketing initiatives, and manufacturing process improvement. You’ll be given personal assignments to complete throughout the internship, finishing with a final project that you’ll present to senior employees and department executives. Abbot’s internships have a recruitment focus, so if you perform well, you may have a solid chance of a return offer after graduation.
Bonus
Cost: Varies depending on program type
Location: Remote | You can work from anywhere in the world.
Application deadline: Deadlines vary depending on the cohort
Program dates: Multiple cohorts throughout the year
Eligibility: Students who can work for 10-20 hours/week, for 8-12 weeks. Open to high school students, undergraduates, and gap year students
Ladder’s university internship program supports undergraduate students looking for a flexible opportunity that can be completed from anywhere in the world. You’ll be paired with a startup company meeting your interests; students across disciplines can find skill matches in sectors across healthtech, AI, sustainability, mental health, and nonprofit operations. You’ll work alongside a company coach to develop a personalized project meeting the startup’s current needs. Throughout the internship, you'll complete a series of deliverables culminating in a final product to present to the company board. While the internship itself does not entail traveling abroad, many companies are based outside the U.S., and the remote structure allows you to pair your internship with international travel or study abroad programs.
One other option—the Lumiere Research Scholar Program
If you’re interested in pursuing independent research, consider applying to one of the Lumiere Research Scholar Programs, selective online high school programs for students founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, we had over 4,000 students apply for 500 spots in the program! You can find the application form here, check out students’ reviews of the program here and here.
Also check out the Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation, a non-profit research program for talented, low-income students. Last year, we had 150 students on full need-based financial aid!
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program in which students work one-on-one with a mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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