Virtual Internships in Madrid —

Program Details

Program Eligibility

About Virtual Internships in Madrid

The Virtual Internship in Madrid program is a four-credit internship opportunity. Virtual internships combined with the internship course give you an opportunity to learn and develop valuable skills.

You’ll work on projects from the US for an international organization while adding a global perspective to your professional work experience. You’ll apply your in-class knowledge to real-world meaningful work, gain experience working remotely, expand your skill base, earn four credits from coursework, and maximize your time.

While we’ll try to place you in your preferred location, keep in mind that our top consideration is making an appropriate match to your skills, experience, and internship goals.

For more information, refer to our Frequently Asked Questions.

Learning Outcomes

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

• Communicate and navigate effectively in a global, virtual environment
• Gain culture specific knowledge of work placement country
• Understand your own values, skills, and behaviors and how different values and communication styles may impact workplace dynamics; develop strategies for adapting to these differences
• Identify and articulate skills and experiences necessary to reach future career goals; develop learning objectives for the virtual internship site that will help you move toward these career aspirations
• Conduct your work during the internship utilizing best practices around professional behavior within a virtual work environment
• Understand and practice tolerance of different cultural assumptions
• Use a comparative framework in essays and dialogue with fellow students to examine cultural and professional aspects of work and how COVID-19 has impacted these environments
• Research and analyze the placement country’s workplace, particularly in terms of social media and online presence, including language, norms, values, economic assumptions and compare this to virtual environment to the US

Program Structure

Course Schedule

Spring 2021

January 25: Virtual Internship course begins
February 1: Virtual Internship placement begins
May 3: Virtual internship course and placement ends

The class will meet synchronously six times throughout the semester. Our expectation is that you are able to make it to all synchronous sessions, and do not have another course that has conflicting class times. For this reason, there are two different options for class times, outlined below. You will choose either the Monday/Wednesday option or the Tuesday/Thursday option.

• Mondays and Wednesdays, 9–10 a.m.: January 25 and 27, March 15 and 17, April 26 and 28
• Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8–9 a.m.: January 26 and 28, March 16 and 18, April 27 and 29

Summer 2021

June 1: Virtual internship course begins
June 7: Virtual internship placement begins
July 30: Virtual internship course and placement ends

The class will meet synchronously 3 times throughout the summer for 2 hours each. Our expectation is that you are able to make it to all synchronous sessions. For this reason, there are two different options for class times, outlined below. You will choose either the Tuesday option or the Wednesday option. Please note that the Spanish section will be taught on Wednesdays.

• Tuesdays, 8:30–10:30 a.m.: June 1, June 29, July 27
• Wednesdays, 8:30–10:30 a.m.: June 2, June 30, July 28

Fall 2021

September 7: Virtual Internship course begins
September 13: Virtual Internship placement begins
December 10: Virtual internship course and placement ends

The class will meet synchronously six times throughout the semester. Our expectation is that you are able to make it to all synchronous sessions, and do not have another course that has conflicting class times. For this reason, there are two different options for class times, outlined below. You will choose either the Monday/Wednesday option or the Tuesday/Thursday option. Please note that the Spanish section will be taught during the Tuesday/Thursday time.

• Mondays and Wednesdays, 9–10 a.m.: September 8 and 13, October 25 and 27, December 6 and 8
• Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8–9 a.m.: September 7 and 9, October 26 and 28, December 7 and 9

Coursework

The 4-credit virtual internship course will consist of lectures, small-group discussions, readings, posting to prompts, blogs, essays, a mock interview, and a presentation. Along with the class, you’ll be assigned projects for 12–20 hours per week at your internship placement. The course will help you apply in-class knowledge to your work and understand your newly developed professional skills to articulate in professional situations.

The course will be offered in English and Spanish. The Spanish taught section of the Virtual International Internship along with a Spanish internship placement can be counted as an elective without a Critical Analysis prerequisite for Spring 2021 Spanish majors and minors. Consult with the Spanish department for approval.

Virtual Internship Syllabus (PDF)

Internship Placements

Internships are available in a variety of fields and industries, including:  

• Advertising
• Art History
• Art Management
• Biotech
• Business
• Communications
• Computer Science
• Creative Arts/Writing
• Design
• Education
• Finance
• Government/Politics
• Health Care
• International Relations
• IT/Computer Systems
• Journalism
• Law
• Marketing
• Neuroscience
• Nonprofit
• Psychology
• Public Health
• Publishing
• Research
• Social Media
• Web Design

Internship examples: 

Developmental Neurobiology Group, Cajal Institute-CSIC

Industries: Neuroscience/Psychology

Description of Organization: The Cajal Institute-CSIC is a 100 years old research institution founded by the Spanish government to help the 1906 Nobel laureate, Santiago Ramón y Cajal (founder of modern Neuroscience), in his titanic labor of describing the basic structure of the Central Nervous System, including the connections between nerve cells. The Institute currently belongs to the Spanish Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-CSIC), and it is dedicated to studying the brain and the diseases affecting the CNS. Our research group is mainly focused on the development of the CNS (i.e. myelination, olfactory system), demyelination (including primary demyelinating diseases, like Multiple Sclerosis) and remyelination (mainly focused on the search for remyelinating agents to promote spontaneous remyelination ability of oligodendrocyte precursor cells).

Description of Duties and Responsibilities: During this placement students will have the opportunity to complete a formation in the History of Neuroscience. Different Neuroscience concepts were established for the first time in Madrid to pave the way for modern and contemporary Neuroscience. Since years ago, our group is also involved in studying the work of Cajal and the plethora of outstanding researchers trained by him, collectively known as the Spanish Neurological School, or the Cajal School. The institutional and private archives pertaining to these neuroscientists have been collectively admitted by the UNESCO as part of the Human Heritage (i.e. Memory of the World programme). There are different aspects of this part of History of Science that remain to be fully studied, which would provide a great opportunity for an interested student/s under the current limitations due to the Covid19 pandemic. The instructor will provide short introductory lectures, videos and reading material. Students are required to follow homework and exercises assigned by the instructor in their own time. The instructor will check students’ weekly progress.

Internship Language: English & Spanish
Prerequisites: Intermediate Spanish level (passed SPAN 1004), background in Neuroscience or Psychology

El Independiente

Industry: Journalism

Description of Organization: El Independiente is a Spanish digital Newspaper, its main coverage is the actuality of Spain, but highlighting international news.

Description of Duties and Responsibilities: Students will cover news happening in the US, and collaborating with the International news section, under direct supervisor of Ana Alonso who is a journalist of the paper.

Internship Language: English & Spanish
Prerequisite: Lower level of Spanish

Greater than One (GTO)

Industries: Marketing, Social Media

Description of Organization: A digital agency driving innovative solutions at the intersection of strategy, technology, and creativity in the health and wellness space.

Description of Duties and Responsibilities: Support the Marketing department in developing Marketing plans and research that will conduct and help GTO´s customer, as well as taking part in all Social Media Marketing Activities, Products, and, Services that GTO offers to the International Market.

Internship Language: English
Prerequisite: none

Sensorimotor Research Lab: National Hospital for Paraplegics - Toledo

Industries: Public Health, Research

Status: Positions Filled

Description of Organization: In the lab they perform investigator and industry lead clinical trials to improve the diagnosis of the symptoms of spinal cord injury in the course of patient rehabilitation in the hospital and at home.

Description of Duties and Responsibilities: They aim to motivate students by using flipped-learning techniques so that students participate in fun group activities, presenting hot-topic mini presentations to their new colleagues, and developing their final written scoping review to an international audience of experts. Along the way students will learn how to use the toolkits to:

• Develop students´ SCI research question leading to their healthcare proposal
• Write student´s scoping review and peer-review for publication
• Present student´s “Dragons-Den” proposal for funding by a research panel
• Understand the ethical issue of biomedical research using case histories
• Analyze real data using qualitative and quantitative statistical tests in Excel

Internship Language: English
Prerequisite: none

Dates & Deadlines

Fees for Virtual Internships in Madrid

Cancellation Policy

Submit

Summer 2021

If you would like to apply after the deadline has passed, email lac-virtualintern@umn.edu with your preferred industries and we will determine if a placement is still available.

Complete

After completing the above application, which includes submitting a cover letter and resume, your application will be reviewed.

Next Steps

If accepted, you will be assigned a confirmation checklist, which you will complete to confirm your participation in the program. If you decide not to continue with the application process, log into the online application system and submit a Cancel Request.

Register for On Campus Course