Middlebury College and its School in Russia are pleased to offer qualified students the opportunity to gain practical work experience as part of their education in Russia. Through a ten-to-fifteen hour per week internship, students gain in-depth experience and exposure to the Russian work environment, while at the same time enhancing and strengthening their Russian language skills. This experience also provides participants with new knowledge and skills that may lead to greater career, graduate school, and other opportunities in the future. Internship possibilities span a wide range of fields and vary from city to city, but they generally include government agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, the media, educational organizations, and others. (See Catalog links). All organizations included in the catalog have expressed interest in working with student interns in the future, but applicants should keep in mind that due to the ever-changing work environment in Russia, we cannot guarantee placement in any of these organizations. They have all simply agreed to look at resumes of interested students for internships. A select number of undergraduates may also earn one course unit for an internship.
As you will also see from the Internship catalog, internships can be arranged in Russian or Western organizations. However, all School in Russia internships are meant to directly compliment the language learning process and all interns are required to speak, read and write in Russian at least 50% of their time on the job. For this reason, students must have strong functional Russian language skills in order to qualify for an internship.
We strongly recommend that students pursue internships during their second semester at the School in Russia, although opportunities are available for qualified single-semester applicants. Year-long students who wish to participate in an internship during the spring semester will complete applications and language screening during the course of the first semester. These students may either select an internship site from the internship catalog or, if they have interests which they feel cannot be fulfilled by any of the advertised internships, they can work with the School in Russia to try to find a more appropriate internship site. Single-semester internship applicants must submit their application and resume prior to arrival in Russia and will go through a language interview during the Orientation program at the beginning of the semester. Because the placement process will only begin after successful completion of the language interview, single-semester students are required to select internship opportunities from the catalog provided. The time constraints of a single semester unfortunately do not allow for "customized" internships for single-term students.
The Middlebury College School in Russia will also be willing to assist students interested in pursuing January Term or summer internships. However, applicants should be warned that the summer can be a difficult time period during which to find an internship as most organizations have lighter workloads and thus often do not need extra help. Paid internships and/or jobs for the summer are quite rare and extremely difficult to find. Most summer internship opportunities will be unpaid and students will be responsible for all additional expenses involved in carrying out a summer internship.
Because ours is predominantly an academic program, certain rules govern the pursuit of internships at the Middlebury College School in Russia:
Internships are not guaranteed for any participant. They are granted on a competitive basis and are subject to the agreement of the School in Russia and the prospective employer.
All students are required to work in an environment which is at least 50% Russian-speaking. In provincial cities, most internships are in 100% Russian-speaking environments. For that reason, students must have functional Russian language skills in order to participate. Students with limited skills in speaking and comprehension will only be allowed to pursue an internship after one semester in country.
Student interns work for a minimum of 8 weeks; and 10 hours per week. All interns must write a self-evaluaion and receive a supervisor's evaluation. In addition to the above requirements, studnts who take an internship for credit must keep (and hand in) a weekly journal/diary in Russian, and write a 12 page paper in Russian pertaining to the internship experience.
Single semester students will only be placed in internships at the beginning of the second month of their program. This transition period is provided to allow students to evaluate their commitment to an internship after class schedules and other extra-curricular activities are firmly set.
Class schedules and class-related excursions take priority over internships. Internship schedules must not conflict with either of the above and are subject to the approval of the School in Russia on-site staff.
All internships are available on an unpaid basis only.
Students who agree to pursue internships are expected to follow through with their commitment until the end of the semester. Withdrawal from the internship must be discussed in advance with the local Resident Coordinator and approved by the Director of the School in Russia.