The European Academic/Internship Semester provides full linguistic and cultural immersion into the societies of French- or German-speaking countries through a combination of intensive language training, academic study and, whenever feasible, supervised working experience on location in Europe. Semester I is usually spent at a university. Semester II is spent at a university and/or a work placement (internship/traineeship) in a private company or public institution.

Students will be placed individually or in very small groups at selected partner institutions of the European Studies Course/the Department of GIS. The course of study will normally comprise intensive foreign language tuition (French or German) and selected academic courses, as they are available at the respective partner institutions. In case of internships, students will be placed individually with the assistance of the programme co-ordinators. Internships may vary in length but shall not extend six months of duration. Internship placements are subject to availability of places, suitability of the student and approval by host companies.

The overall aim is to deepen area studies approaches with a view to the Honours Project in Year 4 and ensure language proficiency certification required for later postgraduates study in Europe and/or professional foreign language use.