Master internship

Kickstart your career

Internships supervised by the Operations Research and Logistics (ORL) group prepare students for a career in e.g. the management of supply chains, operations analytics and logistics development. Supervised by one of our specialists and a person from the host institution, our students work on one (or several) project(s) that require both academic level training and attitude and prepare for a kickstart on the labour market.

Check our offer

Our chair group collaborates with a variety of interesting companies in our field. Please find our current student projects offer with our partners via our Brightspace page 'ORL Thesis & Internship'.

Let's talk

Are you interested in exploring an internship supervised by ORL? Our internship coordinator welcomes you for an intake to discuss your preferences with respect to your internship. If you fill out this intake form, the coordinator will contact you for an appointment.

Please check the study handbook to see whether you meet all requirements for starting an MSc internship with us. If in doubt, do not hesitate to contact education.orl@wur.nl.

FAQ

When should I start looking for an internship?

Start thinking about the internship on time! Lots of organizations start their application rounds early, sometimes even 5 to 6 months before the date of entry! To ensure a smooth study process, start investigating your ambitions and opportunities today.

What is an academic internship?

The academic internship is a period of work, study, and reflection in a real-world working environment. The aim of the academic internship is to let you experience the potential professional environment in which you could work after graduating from your degree programme.
The internship provides an opportunity to work outside WU at a host organisation, e.g. a company (consultancy firm, industry), a public institution, a research organisation, another university, or a non-governmental organisation.
The tasks you complete have to be of a sufficiently high standard to reflect the desired level of recent Wageningen graduates. You could, for example, work on a research project, a policy document, a communication plan, an evaluation report, a design, or education materials, to name a few.

Where can I find necessary information on the internship?

The 'MSc Internship course guide Wageningen University' can be downloaded via Education and Student Affairs here. We strongly advise to download and this course guide, since it explains in detail e.g. the learning outcomes, the best way to find internships, the roles of the people that are involved in the internship, and the requirements with respect to deliverables.

What are the criteria for an academic internship?

Your tasks during the internship require academic level of thinking (i.e. the internship needs to include a content driven assignment, such as working on a research project, a policy document, a communication plan, an evaluation report, a design, or education materials). Also, your internship reflects the desired level of a Wageningen graduate (i.e. it needs to be at an appropriately academic level). Moreover, your supervisor at the host organisation works at an academic level.

Professional or research internship: what's the difference?

In a research internship, you work on a single research project that is completed with a research report. In a professional internship, you contribute to different projects. You complete the professional internship with a set of deliverables and a context report.

What is expected in terms of deliverables?

You will work on one or more tasks/projects provided by the internship provider. You will have a position equal to a junior employee at an academic level. You can work on tasks leading to one main deliverable or on tasks leading to several deliverables. It is also possible that you contribute to joint deliverables in which the individual contributions are not clearly demarcated.

Research internships are completed with a ‘research report’. Professional internships are completed with a ‘context report’ (and deliverables of projects that have been part of your internship). In both cases, the reports are accompanied by reflection reports.

How will my internship be assessed?

All criteria for assessment of the internship can be found in the Rubric for assessment of the internship on the website of Education and Student Affairs here. There, you can also find our internship assessment forms.