Students of the Master's program in International Relations are required to complete a six-week internship on a full-time basis. The internship is intended to give students an insight into possible occupational and professional fields, to confront them with the requirements and problems of international relations in practice, and to enable them to review and supplement the knowledge and skills they have acquired in their studies. In principle, it is also possible to complete 2 different internships with a duration of (at least) 3 weeks each.

If a longer internship is desired, it is possible to take a semester of leave for this purpose and thus be exempted from the obligation to attend courses for the corresponding time. Further information on the subject of leave of absence can be obtained from the enrollment office of your main university.

In exceptional cases, the examination board may recognize the time of another equivalent practical activity as an internship. Vocational training relevant to your studies is considered the equivalent of internship. The recognition of a vocational training is done by submitting the training certificate to the examination board.

The procurement of an internship is the responsibility of the student. It is desirable that you are integrated professionally and personally into the organizational structure and the work structures in such a way that you can take on partially independent and responsible work within your work context.

Crediting your internship

The following documents must be submitted to the internship office at the University of Potsdam no later than six weeks after completion of the internship.

• Proof of completion of a six-week full-time internship. (38.5 hours per week correspond to a full-time internship.) If fewer hours are completed per week, the internship duration will be converted to weekly work hours accordingly. The hours worked per week must be certified by the internship provider in an appropriate internship certificate. If leave is granted by the internship employer during the internship, it will not be counted towards the internship period. The same applies to absences for other reasons
• Activity certificate from the internship employer with details of duration, working hours and activity characteristics
• Internship report of appropriate form and content

If your documents meet the requirements, your achievements will be credited into Campus Management. You can only start wrtiting your thesis after you have successfully completed the internship.