At Westminster, preparing you for your future is at the heart of what we do. We strive to give every student an excellent education, making them highly employable and ensuring they're fit for any future they choose. Westminster students are highly employable – we will prepare you for the world of work, developing the technical and soft skills needed to make you a competitive candidate.
By joining our study abroad internship programme, and completing the internship module “Professional and Personal Skills Development”, you will be able to:
- Assess your own capabilities and set personal goals within the context of the internship by creating a personal development plan and evaluating your progress towards your criteria.
- Demonstrate your career management skills through a critical analysis of the output from different tools.
- Apply theories of organisational culture, challenging stereotypes and your own assumptions in the workplace.
- Apply theories of coping with stress in the workplace, in order to develop your own coping mechanism.
- Evaluate ethical working practices and relate these to your own experiences.
- Communicate effectively, demonstrating your ability to present information both orally and in writing.
A recent study by the Institute of International Education* has shown:
- Global internships positively impact the development of 21st-century job skills. Participants self-reported significant increases in 21st-century skills, with the greatest increases in the category of intrapersonal competencies, followed by cognitive and interpersonal competencies.
- Developing 21st-century skills through global internship activities demonstrates the value of an internship on career pathways across industries. Among the activities offered by the study abroad organization, the activities most closely associated with positive career goals included networking events with employers (44%), social and cultural events (43%), and interview prep support for internship placement (40%). Among the support facilitated by the host employer organization, the supports most closely associated with positive career goals included project-based work assignments (58%), mentorship from a co-worker (58%), and regular feedback on assignments and/or communication (57%).
- Participation in a global internship expands career pathways. For more than half (56%) of respondents, the internship confirmed their industry. One in four employed respondents works at the same organization where they completed their internship. For other respondents, the internship made them aware of other opportunities in their industry or led them to change industries.
- Three in four alumni confirmed that participating in an internship abroad was helpful in acquiring their first full-time job.
Taking a study abroad internship with us will enhance your employability. If you want to leave University career ready, taking an internship is one way to do that! It will set you apart from other candidates and give you the skills employers are looking for.
* Mason, L. & Monroe, S. (2024). Standing out in a competitive market: The impact of a global internship on career readiness. Institute of International Education.
Internship duration and working hours
You can apply for a study abroad internship as part of an undergraduate single semester or year-long study abroad programme at the University of Westminster, but the maximum duration of the internship is one semester.
Internships are part-time and run for 12 weeks, until the end of the teaching period.
Alongside your academic studies, you will be expected to work 14 hours over two to three days per week in your internship.
Module options
You can choose to study the equivalent of up to 80 UK credits (60 UK credits if you are following the EU partner programme). One of these modules is the compulsory Professional and Personal Skills Development module.
To see which modules you can choose from, have a look at our module programme page.
CV guidance
You can find out more about how to create the perfect CV by downloading our guide:
Assessment of internship
The graded progression of the Professional and Personal Skills Development (5BUSS005X) module fosters the development of your analytical thinking skills by applying relevant theory and concept to your work experiences. Your learning and practical experience is designed to enable you to reflect on both your work and learning so that you can articulate your global skillset to future employers.
The module is academically assessed. You will gain credits through the submission of a coursework portfolio of assignments completed throughout the semester. In class time is 3 hours per week for this module.
Internship fields
You can take your internship in a range of fields, from fashion and journalism to accounting and marketing or PR.
Please note that all internships are unpaid, but a contribution towards expenses for travel is made by your internship employer.
You will find the internship fields you can choose from below, as well as the typical roles available in each field. You are very welcome to suggest employers to us, and we offer a bespoke matching service.
We will do our very best to match you to your first choice of internship role but please be prepared with back up choices in case we need to consider other areas.
Tasks and duties: merchandising, administrative duties, runner duties, marketing, and events.
Employers include:
- art galleries, historic properties
- product marketing
- design agencies eg textiles (practical and desktop publishing)
- fashion agencies
- fashion PR
- online fashion magazines
- independant fashion designers
Ideal for students studying business management and /or finance. Tasks and duties: working with invoices, billing patients, and business administration.
Employers Include:
- NHS
- SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises)
Tasks and duties: administrative duties, assisting with focus groups, helping to develop projects, fundraising, policies and procedures, minute taking, and filing.
Employers Include:
- law firms - specialising in wills, tax, and probate.
- non-profit/charities - community projects for disadvantaged residents
- international development campaign organisations
- mental health charities
- refugee support centres
Our charity and NGO partners include Age Uk.
Tasks and duties: working with various charities or non profit organisations either in community projects assisting with community events or helping to give advice and guidance to disadvantage people and make then aware of the services they can access.
Employers include charities focusing on:
- refugees and asylum seekers
- homelessness
- victims of domestic violence
- mental health
Tasks and duties: administrative duties, project work, and opportunity to gain insight into legal side of employment.
Employers include:
- various large and small organisations (including the National Health Service and Hotels)
Journalism: please note that it is very difficult to secure specific Internships when in high demand. Most work is in research, editorial or in technical graphic design for experienced students.
Tasks and duties: opportunities to write articles, some administration duties, events and marketing.
Employers include:
- media and publishing partners including Our Journalism, Cent Magazine and Young Film Academy
- academic and fiction publishing (mostly online publications)
- desktop publishing (for experienced interns)
- print journalism (limited fields)
- TV documentary production (scripts and post production)
- web journalism
Tasks and duties for marketing include:
- market research
- client liaison
- events
- administrative duties
- social media
Tasks and duties for PR include:
- writing and preparing press packs, supplier and client liaison,
- planning
- administrative duties
- events
- social media.
Employers include:
- advertising agencies
- communications
- corporate marketing for charities (including events)
- product marketing
- general PR agencies - various areas of buisness including, fashion and media
- marketing for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises)