The Washington Center Academic Internship

To be eligible to participate in this program, you must meet the following criteria:

• be between 18 and 35 years old;
• hold Canadian citizenship or permanent resident status;
• reside in Quebec or be domiciled there.
  
• You must also be enrolled in a full-time bachelor's or master's degree program at one of the following graduate institutions:

Concordia University
Laval University
Mcgill university
Montreal university
University of Quebec in Montreal
University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières
University of Sherbrooke
Montreal School of Business Studies
National School of Public Administration

• If you are ian undergraduate student, you must have successfully completed 2 semesters of full-time studies. If you are a graduate student, you must have obtained at least 9 credits.
• You must have maintained an average equal to or greater than 3 out of 4.33, until your departure.
• Internships must be related to the following specialty areas:

International relationships;
Political Sciences;
Communications (public relations);
International law;
International trade;
Environment.

• The internships must be relevant to the field of your training, correspond to tasks related to your choice of profession and contribute to significantly developing your professional skills.
• You can only participate in the program once.

The scholarship eligibility conditions, the selection process and the file to be submitted are available on the MRIF website.

The duration of the internship is 14 weeks for the fall and winter sessions. For the summer session, the internship is 9 weeks. The internship program is offered every session until summer 2024 inclusively.

You must upload the following documents to your Concordia International Mobility portal:

• the PDF version of your completed application form, accessed through the Washington Center application portal. Do not submit your registration form, but save it and send it in PDF format after completing the “TWC Policies” section. The “Campus Sponsor Agreement” section must be completed by Concordia International;
• a 500-word essay (in English) on a topic or issue that you want to explore during your internship in Washington D.C. This is not  a resarch paper and you are encurgaed to express a personal opinion; 
• a cover letter (in English);
• a curriculum vitae (in English);
• graduate school transcripts;
• a letter from your program director (in French or English) authorizing you to do an internship at the Washington Center and guaranteeing that this internship will lead to obtaining a number of credits equivalent to full-time training in your program ;
• two letters of recommendation from professors or employers (in English).

Proof of English Language Proficiency
Since the internships are held in English, you must demonstrate an advanced level of English language proficiency, both oral and written.

• This proof can be done either:
  by a certificate of competence for a successful course equivalent to the advanced English level;
• by a language test attesting to a minimum score of 750 for the TOEIC or 550 for the TOEFL;
• by an official assessment from the home educational institution certifying that you have an advanced level of English language proficiency.

• If your application is successful, you will receive an invitation to participate in a first selection interview.
• If you take the next step, the Washington Center will contact you to schedule phone interviews with your potential employers.
• One or more interviews will be held with your potential employers. At the end of these, you will be able to choose the internship that best suits your interests and your expectations.

You can't receive scholarships or renumeration fwhile in Washington, D.C.

The program covers the following costs:

• residential accommodation in Washington, D.C .;
• professional internship in the workplace of 4 or 5 days per week, depending on the host organization;
• 45-hour university training course;
• activities such as conferences;
• trainee evaluation.

You are responsible for the following expenses:

• part of the travel costs to Washington, D.C. An agreement with the Office Québec-Monde pour la jeunesse allows, however, partial reimbursement of travel costs to Washington, D.C. for interns 30 years of age and under;
• visa fees;
• insurance;
• living expenses (food, personal expenses).
• Internships are jointly funded by the Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie (MRIF), higher education institutions (some may share the bill with the student - to be verified with the institution) and the Washington Center.