ITRI Internship

ITRI Internship Program

Official Site : 2012 Info
Organizer: Industrial Technology Research Institute
Facebook: 2010, 2011.

Official Program Objective: (from ITRI's HR Director)
"1) Get useful work out of the interns: we have lots of technical and/or international-related projects to which our interns can contribute;
2) Establish/build ITRI’s reputation among university students, to develop a talent pool for long-term recruiting purposes;
3) Establish/build ITRI's links to overseas universities and research institutes;
4) Bring in new ideas and perspectives in order to encourage innovation;
5) Part of overall internationalization efforts: allow ITRI managers and staff to get used to working with international talent, improve organizational English and international knowledge and skills, etc."

Program Eligibility: "This program is open to graduate and undergraduate students currently enrolled at accredited 4-year colleges and universities. Candidates must hold a valid passport from a country other than Taiwan (ROC)."

Number of Participants: 25-30

Program Duration: "Each summer ITRI hosts 25-30 international students for 10-week internships. ITRI also offers a limited number of longer internships of 4-6 months during Spring and Fall. Interns should be available to work one of the following periods:
Summer Period 1: May 8 to July 17, 2012
Summer Period 2: June 19 to August 24, 2012
For longer internships (4-6 months), dates are flexible depending on student and department needs."

Cost: None, but participants must cover their own travel expenses. A monthly stipend is given (amounts are before taxes): Undergraduates 30 000 NT, Master's students 32 000 NT, PhD students 35 000 NT. Expect to break-even, or come out slightly ahead in terms of finances. Free on-site accommodation at ITRI campus is also provided.

Admission Difficulty: Highly selective. 2010 saw 200 applications for 18 internship positions. As well, 3-5 positions are typically filled in partnership with TTT.

"Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis - we encourage interested students to apply as soon as you can. Application for most positions will close around the end of February and we hope to inform all decisions by the end of March. We will remove positions as they are filled, so if a position is posted that means application is still open."

Repeat Participants? Yes. There are typically 1 to 2 repeat participants each summer.

The Low-Down: (from ITRI's HR Director) "In general I would say that our interns are expected to work hard and act professionally, but we don't put heavy pressure on them - usually they are self-motivated and put plenty of pressure on themselves. In my experience each summer the interns bond as a group and have plenty of fun, breaking into subgroups and exploring all over Taiwan in their off time. We also have a fair amount of diversity among our interns, with about half being overseas/'2nd-generation' Taiwanese and the other half being 'first-timers' to Taiwan, coming from Russia, India, France, New Zealand, US/Canada and other countries; roughly 80% are undergrads, the rest MS and PhD students."

Related Links:
Link : 2006-07 Intern Feedback
Link : 2008 Intern Feedback
Link : 2009 Asianz Article
Link : 2009 Intern Feedback
Link : 2010 Intern Feedback