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Internships Overview

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Alastair Herron 2, Nakao Lab, Kyoto U. BOSP
Alastair Herron interned at Prof. Nakao’s lab at Kyoto University working on catalytic system for the activation of relatively inert chemical bonds.

Duration

Full-time 10-week internship during summer (see the Kyoto Key Dates for specific dates)

Host Organizations

Kyoto Program students intern at all kinds of organization – from huge multinationals, to startups, NGOs, government, traditional and modern industries, universities and research institutes. Some students have very niche interests – and the Kyoto Program staff does their best to source these types of highly specialized internship too, subject to availability.

Check out a list of Recent Host Organizations to see where some Kyoto Program students have interned in the past.

Finances

  • All students receive a total stipend of 280,000 yen to cover their meals and other living expenses for the duration of the internship program, to be provided either by the host organization or through arrangement by the Stanford Kyoto Program, or both.
  • In addition to the stipend, housing is also provided at no charge to the student for the duration of the internship. Students do not need to source their own housing, as it is arranged for them by the program. All students have their own private bedroom, but depending on the type of housing, students may share some communal living facilities (kitchen, laundry, etc.) with other tenants.
  • Commuting costs between student housing and internship host (if not within reasonable walking distance) are also covered by the program or the host organization.
  • Students are responsible for all other expenses not covered by the program or the host organization, including meals and living expenses exceeding the stipend amount; local transportation expenses to their internship site prior to the start of their internship; travel expenses from their internship site to the airport at the end of their internship; national health insurance costs (1,800 yen - 5,000 yen per month); other incidental and personal expenses including Internet if not provided at their housing.
  • Stipend/meal allowance or housing is not provided during the break between the end of Spring Quarter and the start of the summer internship program, as this period is considered out of session. Students will have to make their own housing arrangements during this period as well as any dates outside of the internship program.
  • Since some students may not find out their internship location until later in Spring Quarter, it is recommended that students book a flight that has no or minimal change fee just in case the internship end-date and/or location is different to what was expected.

Eligibility

  • Stanford University undergraduate students in good academic standing.
  • Successful completion of Spring Quarter on the BOSP Kyoto Program during the same academic year.
  • By the time students begin their summer internship, they need to have completed at least one or two years of Japanese language depending on their major classification, as follows:
    • STEM major students (or prospective STEM major students) need to have completed JAPANLNG3 or 3K
    • Non-STEM major students (or prospective non-STEM major students) need to have completed JAPANLNG23 or 23K.
    • To find out if your major falls into the STEM or the non-STEM category, please check the list of the university’s defined major classifications
  • Seniors or co-terms are eligible as long as they do not confer their undergraduate degrees until after they complete their internship (this will be the end of Summer Quarter); students must keep an undergraduate status until and while they are abroad to remain eligible.

How to Apply and Important Considerations

*Application for the summer 2024 internship program is closed. Application for the summer 2025 will be available as part of the 1st round BOSP Kyoto Program application for Spring 2024-25. 

  • Prospective Spring Kyoto students who wish to take part in the internship component for the subsequent summer must submit the internship application form, in addition to the BOSP application form to indicate their intent to participate in the internship component as well.
  • The application form for the internship program is linked from the BOSP program application. The application deadline for internship is the same as the 1st round application deadline for the Spring Quarter program.
  • The dates for the Summer 2024 Kyoto Internship Program are: June 17, 2024 to August 23, 2024 (subject to change).
  • The maximum capacity of Kyoto summer internship program places in 2024 will be 15 students. In case we receive more than 15 summer internship applications, places will be determined by each student’s grade point average at the time of their application. Students who have applied for a summer internship will be notified if they are being offered a place on the internship program or not in November 2023. In addition, as the BOSP Kyoto internship program is offered in connection to the Spring Quarter program in Kyoto, in the eventuality of the Spring Quarter program being suspended, the internship program will also be suspended.
  • Before students submit their internship application form, we ask students to understand that the internship opportunities are still generally very rare and limited in Japan. For this reason, it is not possible to guarantee any student an internship in their specific fields of interests or types of organizations. Furthermore, the program does not take preferences for specific geographical locations and sizes of the organizations into account during the matching process. Additionally, our summer internship program requires full commitment from all student participants, and students will be expected to work full-time (5 days a week, 7-8 hours day) for 10 weeks.
  • Only those students who are committed to working full-time, who are flexible about where they will be interning and also willing to accept alternate opportunities offered by the BOSP Kyoto Program should apply.

Matching Process

The matching process usually starts in December or January once students confirm their participation to the Stanford Program in Kyoto internship. Students are either matched with internship opportunities identified by the Stanford Program in Kyoto or the ones identified by themselves.

As the program aims to source the best possible internship opportunity for each student, aligned with their academic major and interests, the program does not accept requests from students to be placed in any specific geographical location and/or the sizes of the organizations.

Contact

If you have any questions on the Stanford Program in Kyoto internships, please contact the Kyoto Program Internship Coordinator.

Please note that the Stanford Program in Kyoto doesn’t have any resources for internships outside of the scope of the Stanford Kyoto internship program and is unable to provide any assistance to students exploring internship opportunities in Japan independently.