The engineering internship is an integral part of our Master’s programme in Civil Engineering. It allows our students to have direct contact with the professional world, in Switzerland or abroad, and to discover the corporate culture.
The EPFL internship portal allows any company to advertise internships free of charge and to receive applications from interested students.
The internship coordinator and the secretariat of the Civil Engineering Section are at your disposal for any support and information concerning the CE engineering internships.
Internships are an important experience for our students, allowing them to achieve the following goals: immersion in the professional world of a company, highlighting the importance of teamwork, taking into account the requirements of a company in its processes, putting into practice the knowledge acquired during the years of study.
Civil engineering internships have a minimum duration of eight weeks. In practice, they have two different formats:
The 2-month short internship, which is usually carried out during the inter-semester periods and allows the student not to extend the duration of his/her Master’s studies. This internship can be done in two parts, but within the same company.
The long internship of a maximum duration of 6 months, which generally translates, for the student, into the addition of one semester to the duration of his/her Master’s studies.
- Find an internship using the “secure access” to the internship portal (IS-Academia) or on your own
- Find a person in charge of the internship among the EPFL professors or MERs of the Civil Engineering section. State him the content and the conditions of the internship so that he will be able to validate it.
- Inform all companies where you postulated that you are no longer interested. This step is very important in order to maintain good relations with possible future employers.
- Give the EPFL “tripartite internship agreement” to the company that will hire you and make your employer and your EPFL person in charge sign it before the beginning of the internship. The signing from the three sides is mandatory.
- If you are not a Swiss or EU-country citizen, ask the company to help you obtain a working authorization. More information here.
- Once all details concerning your internship are known, enter or edit the information about your internship on IS-Academia, in particular the starting and ending date of your internship.
NB: if your internship is divided into two parts, you need to enter the ending date of the second part. Do not forget to upload on IS-Academia a pdf copy of the internship contract correctly signed. - If your internship takes place during a semester, make sure your FRAC is up to date.
- At the end of your internship, fill the evaluation form, which will be send to you by email. NB: the evaluation procedure begins two weeks before the official end of the internship. It includes a complete individual evaluation online by the student and the employer.
- Write an internship report and give it to your person in charge from EPFL before the end of two weeks after the end of the internship.
- Find an internship using the “secure access” to the internship portal (IS-Academia) or on your own
- Find a person in charge of the internship among the EPFL professors or MERs of the Civil Engineering section. State him the content and the conditions of the internship so that he will be able to validate it.
- Inform all companies where you postulated that you are no longer interested. This step is very important in order to maintain good relations with possible future employers.
- Give the EPFL “tripartite internship agreement” to the company that will hire you and make your employer and your EPFL person in charge sign it before the beginning of the internship. The signing from the three sides is mandatory.
- If you are not a Swiss or EU-country citizen, ask the company to help you obtain a working authorization. More information here.
- Once all details concerning your internship are known, enter or edit the information about your internship on IS-Academia, in particular the starting and ending date of your internship.
NB: if your internship is divided into two parts, you need to enter the ending date of the second part. Do not forget to upload on IS-Academia a pdf copy of the internship contract correctly signed. - If your internship takes place during a semester, make sure your FRAC is up to date.
- At the end of your internship, fill the evaluation form, which will be send to you by email. NB: the evaluation procedure begins two weeks before the official end of the internship. It includes a complete individual evaluation online by the student and the employer.
- Write an internship report and give it to your person in charge from EPFL before the end of two weeks after the end of the internship.
A student enrolled in the Master of Civil Engineering has profound knowledge in the basic sciences (mathematics, physics, chemistry, computing) and in the fields more specific to Civil Engineering, such as:
- Works and structures
- Materials
- Soils
- Hydraulics and energy
- Transportation and territory
During his Master’s studies, the student will deepen his knowledge in these fields. Additionally, he can choose a “specialization” or a “minor”, which will take a total of 30 credits out of the 90 credits needed to finish the Master´s degree, in one of the followings fields:
Civil Engineering specializations:
- Structural Engineering
- Geotechnique
- Transportation and Mobility
- Hydraulics and Energy
Minors:
- Territorial development and urbanism
- Integrated design, architecture and sustainability
- Energy
- Computational science and engineering
The skills of our students bring them to design, build and manage installations, infrastructures and civil engineering systems in the service of the community while respecting the laws of sustainable development. Our students are prepared to work in team, to take responsibility and to organize complex projects or constructions
For companies, our internships offer the opportunity
- To discover new profiles and find the employees of tomorrow
Receive occasional support for a major project - To integrate new ideas and perspectives
- To become a strategic partner of EPFL for the quality of its students’ education
- To establish contact with future engineers and mark their culture with your experience
Only Civil Engineering professors or MERs can be responsible for your mandatory internship.
