Engineering: Internships in Berlin

Application Opens:  October 24, 2022

Application Closes:  December 4, 2022

Final Payment Deadline: February 10, 2023

Cancellation Deadline: February 15, 2023

Please do not enroll in a Global Internship Program unless you are sure you intend to participate. Remember that your deposit is nonrefundable. See our Cancellation Policy. The cancellation deadline is February 15, 2023 at 11:59PM. Paid program fees (minus $300 nonrefundable deposit) are refundable until February 15, 2023 at 11:59PM.

Eligibility Criteria

• Undergraduate student in UCLA School of Engineering
• Minimum of 90 units completed by end of Spring 2023
  • Units can include transfer credit
• Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above
• Good academic standing
• Proof of COVID-19 vaccine required for participation by program provider (CIEE). See the CIEE vaccination policy here.

Selection Process

Students who apply that meet the eligibility criteria will conduct an advising call with CIEE, our partners in Berlin. Through this advising call  CIEE will learn more about each applicant’s qualifications, experience and career goals. The call will help CIEE determine whether the applicant is a good match for available internship opportunities in Berlin. After the call is completed, CIEE and UCLA will decide whether to offer the applicant acceptance into the Berlin Global Internship Program based on their qualifications and the pool of applicants.

Acceptance Decisions

Applicants will be notified of acceptance decisions in early January.

Placement Process

Students selected for the Berlin program will need to place their program deposit first, in order to be officially enrolled in the program. After enrolling in the Berlin program, a placement coordinator from CIEE will work with each student one-on-one to find the best internship match. Internship placements are customized to a students’ personal and career goals, interests and experience, as well as available internship opportunities within the students’ field of interest. Students will intern approximately 32 hours per week at their internship site. Total work hours will depend on their specific internship site needs.

Disclaimer

The Global Internship Program provides all participants with meaningful internship placement opportunities. Students must be realistic, however, about the level of their internship placement. Students with limited or no work experience, limited leadership or volunteer experience, no specialization courses completed, or other kinds of related activities, will be placed in an entry-level position in their requested industry.

Resume

As part of the application process, you will be asked to upload a current copy of your resume. Please take time to appropriately format and spell check your resume before submitting. For assistance with your resume, you can use the VMock tool provided by the UCLA Career Center.

Motivation to Enroll Questionnaire 

As part of your application process you will be asked to complete a questionnaire. Responses should be well thought out and demonstrate why you are a strong candidate for the Global Internship Program. It’s highly encouraged to prepare your responses in advance on a Word document and then copy and paste to the application once you apply. The maximum word count for each short-answer response is 125 words. Please see the questions below to assist you in preparing your answers.

• Personal Introduction: Please give some  general background on yourself and why you are interested in participating in the Global Internship Program? (125 word maximum)
• Location of Interest: What makes you interested in interning in the particular city or country you selected for your program? (125 word maximum)
• Career Goals: Within your career field, which specific sector are you interested in working in and what do you hope to gain from this global internship experience? How will this experience assist you toward reaching your career goals? (125 word maximum)
• Why should you be selected? What do you think makes you stand out as a strong candidate for the Global Internship Program? Why should you be selected for the program? (125 word maximum)

Berlin Engineering Placement Options:

Strengths

• Artificial Intelligence
• Data Analysis
• Computer Science
• IT
• Math/Stats/Big Data
• Programming and coding
• Software

Limited

• Electrical
• Hardware
• Mechanical

*Please note that placement options for traditional fields like mechanical and electrical engineering are not very prevalent in Berlin, although there may be a few. Please see the Osaka and Bali programs for a better chance of being placed in one of these fields. 

Examples placements include:

Click here for a few examples of student placements from past years. There is no guarantee that these same placements and/or project roles will be available for future terms. While there are a handful of recurring placement partners the Berlin team works with, there is no set number of available placement options. Every placement round, internship opportunities are determined by active research and outreach to companies based on each cohort and individual student interests and experiences.

• Avocargo (Mechanical Engineering)
• Dataconomy (Software Engineer)
• Delphai (Data Science)
• Peregrine Technologies GmbH (Data Science and Machine Learning)
• Senvo (Software Engineer)
• Theo (Electrical Engineering)
• Visseiro (Medical Mechatronics)

Students will intern approximately 32 hours per week. Total weekly work hours and mode of work (in-person vs hybrid) will depend on the specific internship site needs. The internship will have the majority of the work time take place in-person at the company’s office workspace.

Program Courses

All students are required to enroll in the ENGR 195 course while attending the program. Students who wish to earn more units and/or apply for financial aid, may also enroll in the CESC 130 course as well.

• ENGR 195 (4 units) ~ Mandatory
• CESC 130 (4 units) ~ Optional 

* Please note that in order to be eligible for financial aid, students must be enrolled in both the mandatory course AND the optional course (total of 8-units).  

Course Descriptions

ENGR 195: Internship Course (4 units)

Prerequisites:  None

Engineering (ENGR) 195 is a 4-unit internship studies course supervised by associate dean or designated faculty members. This course can only be taken as pass/no pass (it cannot be taken for a letter grade). Further supervision to be provided by the organization for which students are doing an internship. The course is open to strictly Engineering majors.

CESC 130: Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace (4 units)

Prerequisites:  None

This 4-unit course is designed to help students critically analyze their own cultural values and beliefs and the impact they have on their communication. It will provide students with strategies and tools to more effectively communicate and to manage intercultural conflicts in the global workplace. Students will study and critique intercultural communication theories, review relevant case studies and discuss first hand experiences from their global internship. This course must be taken for a letter grade. Auditing and pass/no pass is not allowed.

*The CESC 130 course will satisfy the Social Analysis GE for Engineering Majors.

Budget	UCLA Undergrads (4-Units)	 UCLA Undergrads (8-Units)
Program Fee	$7,885	$9,001
IEI Fee	$61	$61
Airfare (estimate)	$1,500	$1,500
Meals & Incidentals (estimate)	$1,800	$1,800

*Fees are subject to change by action of the UC Regents. Click here for full fee disclaimer.

Program fee includes:

• Tuition
• Internship placement
• Shared room in student dormitory or apartment accommodations 
• On-site orientation (including welcome meal)
• Optional social and cultural activities
• 24/7 on-site health and safety support from CIEE staff
• Health insurance.

Personal Expenses NOT Included:

• Roundtrip Airfare to Berlin
• Personal travel during program
• Costs for medical expenses and emergencies
• Meals and entertainment expenses
• Transportation to/from housing to internship site

IEI Fee

All undergraduate students will be charged a $61 IEI fee per summer. The IEI (Instructional Enhancement Initiative) fee is a course materials fee that is charged in order to support the use of technology in undergraduate education at UCLA. For more information please click here.

Budgeting

We recommend that you budget accordingly to cover optional sightseeing, laundry, emergencies, etc.  How much to budget depends on your travel, entertainment, and souvenir choices. It is always best to overestimate your spending. Take the time to research the cost of living in your destination and the activities you want to participate in while abroad.

Purchasing Airfare

Students should not purchase their flight to Berlin until informed to do so by UCLA.

*The purchase of a fully-refundable and/or flexible airfare is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.

Financial Aid

Financial aid for Summer Global Internship Programs is available to qualified UCLA students. Students must be enrolled in a total of 8 units (2 courses) to be eligible for financial aid. For details about the financial aid application process, please visit the Financial Aid section of this website.

Arrival

Our partner organization, CIEE, will provide you with directions to get from the airport to your program housing.

Accommodations

You will reside in shared dormitory or apartment accommodations with 2 people per room (including possibly other non-UCLA students interning in Berlin). All dormitory or apartment rooms come with bedding, basic Wifi and communal kitchen access. Accommodations are typically within a 30-to-60 minute commute from internship sites.

Meals

Meals are not provided. Students have access to fully furnished shared kitchen space in their dormitory or apartment to cook.

Optional Social and Cultural Activities

This program offers two (2) professional development activities and two (2) cultural activities. There may be more optional opportunities to interact with other groups participating in programming in Berlin as well.

Travel to Berlin

All Global Internship program participants are required to purchase and arrange their own travel accommodations to Berlin. Students should not purchase their flight to Berlin until informed to do so by UCLA. Students will receive specific arrival instructions to assist with arrival to program housing.

*The purchase of a fully-refundable and/or flexible airfare is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.  

Visa Information:

U.S. citizens are not required to obtain a visa to intern in Germany for the Global Internship Program.

For non-US citizens you may be required to apply for a Schengen Visa to intern in Germany, please contact the Global Internship Program manager if you have additional questions regarding your visa eligibility for the program. Students are responsible for making their embassy appointment once they receive their visa paperwork.

Personal Travel

The Global Internship Program is an intensive 8 week experience. Internship sites will expect students to complete their weekly hours and will not be providing vacation days during the program. Although it may be possible for students to conduct short weekend trips, all longer trips should be conducted prior to or after the conclusion of the Global Internship Program.