Industry Internships: Companies

The duration of the internship can vary between 2 months (8 consecutive weeks at 100% occupancy) and 6 months.

Short internships (2 months) usually take place during the summer break, i.e. mid-July to mid-September. In order to allow enough time for the application and selection process, your proposal will need to be submitted by the beginning of February to mid-April. Chances of finding an appropriate student will progressively be reduced for proposals that arrive near the end of that period. The later offers (March, April) will be opened as soon as they are approved by the coordinator.

Long internships take place during an academic semester (Spring or Autum). In order to allow enough time for the application and selection process, your proposal will need to be submitted during the previous semester.

Master projects (~6 months) usually begin in February. Since the interested student needs to find a supervising professor, the best time to send proposals would be between July and October (for the next calendar year).

Internships can take place in most of the company departments where the student’s knowledge can be useful. The activity does not have to be essentially original or advanced, but the student should be able to apply the knowledge and skills that they have acquired in their studies while being of service to the company.

The Master project should be a personal and original work covering theoretical and practical aspects of a biomedical engineering project. The supervision by an EPFL professor is a guarantee of quality for the student as well as for the company, which remains nevertheless fully owner of the intellectual property of the result of the internship.

The EPFL recommends a monthly salary, which ideally should cover the cost of living and extra expenses for travel and housing. However, there is no required minimum. The idea of an extra “bonus” for especially good internships is considered favorably.

The company has access to the publishing platform for the internships that is common to all the sections of the EPFL. You need to create an account and fill in the information concerning the subject of the internship. The offer is automatically transmitted to the appropriate coordinators from the selected section(s) who approves the subject matter for the students. The students are then invited to apply. EPFL transmits the candidates’ files to the company. The company can start its usual selection process and give a response to the students. A video conference facility can be made available for interviewing the students if necessary. The posting, application and selection process is free of charge.

Detailed information

Internship proposals, including the optional attachments, are posted on our website. They are visible only to registered students who are in the appropriate section(s) and semester(s) for the internship. Companies only have access to their own internship proposals. If there is confidential information for the applicants, please send it to the internship coordinator who will allow only the interested students to read it.

An internship in a company is regulated by a specific tripartite internship agreement. EPFL offers a standard formulation that addresses working rules, insurances, reports and documents, confidentiality and intellectual property. Based on our experience, this agreement should be suitable for most of the participating companies. However, we remains open to discuss other agreements, in case the proposal is not acceptable.