The Princeton Summer Work Program has been providing summer internships for students for almost 50 years. In most cases the interns are Princeton students who take German for their foreign language requirement and use internships in the German-speaking parts of Europe to improve their language skills. In addition a limited number of students from other institutions (both German and American) occasionally participate in the program. The point of contact for Princeton students is the SWP Office in the German Department (SWP@Princeton.EDU ). The SWP is an excellent opportunity to experience another culture while actually earning some money to help meet living expenses. The SWP has been very successful stimulating interest in German language and culture at Princeton and a significant factor in helping Princeton's German Department to remain the number one in America. It also has evolved into an important vehicle for promoting the transatlantic partnership and producing leaders with international experience.
The jobs have included internships with the state and federal govenment institutions, television and radio stations, newspapers, museums, research institutes, hospitals, banks, consultancies, venture capital firms and industrial enterprises. The internships generally run for 8 weeks from the middle of June through the first week of August.
If you are an alumnus/alumna and would like to help out, please contact us. We are looking for internships (both paid and unpaid), lodging, and contributions to allow us to help those students who have low-paid or non-paid internships. We hope eventually to be able to support a "need-blind" internship policy so that no interesting opportunity for cultural exchange goes unutilized.
We are pleased to report that a long list of outstanding institutions and individuals have generously supported the SWP by providing internship opportunities or donating funds for the support of non-paid internships. We would, therefore, like to thank the following providers of internships for their generous support of European-American cultural exchange in the last few years:
Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Frankfurt
Europäisches Parlament, Brüssel
Freie Universität Berlin / Hamburger Universität , Prof. Dieter Harlfinger
Gas-Union GmbH, Frankfurt am Main
Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Wiesbaden
Rowohlt Verlage, Reinbek bei Hamburg
SPD-Bundestagsfraktion, Berlin
Sportclub Frankfurt 1880 e.V, Frankfurt
Staedel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
Staatliche Kunstsammlung Dresden
SWR (Südwestrundfunk), Stuttgart
Triangle Venture Capital Group
Tyco Electronics Corporation, Bensheim
Walters-Storyk Design Studio, New York
WDR – Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Köln
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Mainz
We would also like to thank the Max Kade Foundation as well as the many alumni and friends of Princeton who have supported this program with time, money and excellent advice.