FAQs

The Excellence Research Internship Program is open to outstanding students (top 10%) from one of the program’s North American or Singaporean partner universities only. More information on this page.

If you are a Bachelor’s (undergraduate) or a Master’s (graduate) student, you are eligible as long as at the time of undertaking your Excellence Research Internship you have completed your 2nd year of Bachelor (undergraduate) studies.

Please note that you have to be enrolled as a student when you complete your internship. More information on this page.

Please contact your home institution’s international exchange office or study abroad office. They will guide you through your university’s own criteria to be nominated for the Excellence Research Internship Program.

Yes, you have to; including providing all the documents and names and email addresses of your reference contacts.

The moment you submit your application, your referees will be contacted via the system with a request to submit a reference letter. We recommend you contact your reference persons already whilst you prepare your application to give them time to prepare the letter. Once you submitted your application, you have access through the platform to send your referees a reminder if needed. The reference letter deadline is December 5th. 

Yes, it is your responsibility to ensure that your two reference letters are submitted by the respective deadline. When you are in the application portal, you will be asked to provide two reference contacts (name and email address). The system will then send them a request. You can monitor and send reminders through the system. More information here.

You can send your official transcripts to the following email address: [email protected]
We will directly add them to your online application file.

The average length of the Excellence Research internship is about three months (90 days). Please be aware of residence permit related restrictions related to the internship length.

An internship can last up to four months if it is part of the student’s home university-accredited projects. In this case, a proof must be attached to the application form.

Please note that the Excellence scholarship provided for the Excellence Research Internship is for a maximum of three months. If the length of your internship is over three months, the exceeding period will not be covered by the scholarship.

Please note that for internships >90 days you will need a student residence permit. To obtain this, you will likely need to request an entry visa which will require time and might impact your starting date. In this case, you will be required to find housing in the same Canton / City where your internship will take place. Please take this into account when planning your stay. 

Yes, EPFL’s main campus is in Lausanne, where most of the labs are hosted and all the student activities take place. Associated campuses are in Neuchâtel, Fribourg, Geneva or Sion. Please note that the program activities will take place in Lausanne, and that it might be more difficult to connect / interact with the other interns when based on an associated campus.

The internship should take place on-site in the agreed EPFL laboratory, which could be in Lausanne (main campus) or in one of the associated campuses in Neuchâtel, Fribourg, Geneva or Sion (all approx. 1 hour from the main campus).

More information can be found here.

No, you should not directly contact the professors concerning your application. Should you be selected for the program, the Excellence Research Internship Program Committee will work on your placement.