I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy two different summer internships abroad thanks to the IAESTE association, last year in Łódź (Poland) and this summer in Zwickau (Germany). The association is not widely known so I’m going to explain here a little bit about how it works:
IAESTE (International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience) is a non-governmental, independent and apolitical organization founded in 1948 with the aim to promote professional internships for college students in a foreign country.
Logo IAESTE
Most of the internships take place during the summer holidays and are usually from 6 to 12 weeks long, but they can be up to 12 months long. The salary depends on the country and the company where you are working, but it should be enough to cover the flights and the cost of living.
Nowadays more than 80 countries take part in the IAESTE programme, some of the countries that contribute with more internships are Brasil, Germany, Poland, Spain, China, India, Ireland, Mexico, all the balkan countries… but also there are some other exotic countries like Kazakhstan, Thailand, Armenia, Japan, Syria, Tunisia, Ecuador, Tajikistan, Iran…

And what should you do to get an IAESTE internship?
Well, the process changes depending on the country and university where you’re studying. For example, Chinese students have to pay 1000€ to their university to get an internship. In Spain, at least in my university (UPV), the process works as follows:
You have to get a job for an IAESTE foreign student in a Spanish company, you can do it by visiting random companies and asking them or maybe through some connections; then depending on the characteristics of the internship (salary, length, flexibility, requiered languages…) you rank better or worse in the IAESTE Spain auction. The more internships you get the higher you’ll be in the auction. In January or February you receive a list with all the job offers (more than 40) and you establish your preference order; when a definitive internship is assigned to you, you must do all the proceedings and paperwork required… and finally you’ll just have to wait for the confirmation from the destination company.

All the effort is worth it, IAESTE summers are an unforgettable experience, moreover the internships are usually not very demanding but at the same time give you valuable work experience. In the other side, every weekend there are IAESTE meetings organized by the different local committees; for example last weekend I was in the IAESTE meeting in Prague where more than 60 IAESTE trainees gathered from all over the world. But without a doubt the most important thing in IAESTE are the strong friendships that you’ll be able to do in almost every corner of the world.

IAESTE people
The day of my farewell in Łódź.