1. International Internships
The International Internship Program and the positions we develop are for undergraduate students, but many of our resources and information is applicable to graduate students as well.
Michelle Kern Hall, Assistant Director, International Internship Program
LaFollette School of Public Affairs
October 12, 2016

2. General tips Search and apply early Look into visas, funding
Take advantage of student status
Use campus search tools
-Many international internships have very early deadlines depending on type and location so it’s good to search early so you don’t miss out on these.
-Visas and funding are the biggest barriers so also keep these in mind. GoinGlobal has some information on visas/work permits for many countries. Consider if you have citizenship or dual citizenship elsewhere and opportunities that opens for you. There are definitely paid internships or ones that may provide some support, but some will be unpaid. Research funding and scholarships that may help or consider and plan your budgeting for this.
-Some organizations and some countries have strict limitations on internships only being available to those with student status. Take advantage of these programs that you will lose access to after you graduate! State Department, UN, many opportunities in Europe will require the internship to be tied to your academics and time as a student.
-Being a UW student gives you access to a few spots to search for opportunities abroad so make use of these!

3. Graduate programs U.S. Department of State United Nations Research
Language/Area Studies – FLAS, CLS, Fulbright, Boren:
Consider international focus & international location
Avoid fee-based programs
But CulturalVistas has some good options
For government/policy State Department and United Nations both offer great international opportunities for graduate students so check those if you haven’t. There are programs for doing research abroad as well. Many are STEM focused, but there are some others or faculty connections you may be able to make. Check out language and area studies grants like Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Scholarship or Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to help financially support language or regional studies. Our Fellowships office in the Institute for Regional & International Studies (IRIS) can help.
Keep yourself open to both internships with an international focus (e.g. NGO in DC working with refugee policy) or international location. Both are extremely valuable and may open doors something else.
There are a lot of fee-based placement programs. Especially if you’re interested in government, policy, NGO work there are so many listed positions not part of programs that you should not need to go this route. If you do a Google search that’s what will come up, though, so be aware and review. There are some great ones out there if you want to go that route or want to use one for a volunteer experience, but you likely don’t need to, especially if you’re comfortable with living abroad. Caveat is CulturalVistas is an organization with fee and no-fee/fellowship programs and they have a few great ones for young professionals that I’d encourage you to check out:

4. Search tools External Idealist.org Campus Resources
World Association of NGOs
USAJobs
American Foreign Service Association
USAID Student Internships
DevEx
Campus Resources
GoinGlobal
CareerGate
@Go_Global
Peace Corps recruiter
As UW students you get access to two great databases with international opportunities: GoinGlobal and CareerGate. Both you can get to from the IIP website. GoinGlobal is linked through the IIP database on the left (or through BuckyNet). The free version is very limited; campus pays for the full version which must be behind a NetID login so be sure to use one of those places to get there. They have country guides with places to search, sample resumes/cover letters, visa info and more. For international students they have H1B information. They have a huge job/internship listing both in English and local languages.
CareerGate is on the IIP website as we subscribe to that. It has internships and jobs around the world. Use your wisc.edu account through the “Sign Up” link on the top to get full access. Keep in mind with both of these that these positions aren’t just meant for U.S. citizens so some may be looking for local applicants and not those from overseas. Read carefully, ask questions, and don’t be surprised if you don’t hear back or are rejected for some for this reason.
@Go_Global is a campus Twitter account that sometimes posts opportunities and many for graduate students. It’s not as active as it used to be, but worth following. There is a LinkedIn group as well.
We also have a campus Peace Corps recruiter as one of the top Peace Corps volunteer schools. So if that’s something you’re thinking about check out those resources and regular workshops and events offered.
There are tons of other places to search and we link to many on our website linked there. So start with some of those! Google Searches are not great for this kind of thing, but list-servs and hosted databases and listings have a wealth of information and opportunities so start finding the ones that work for you.