Internship Policy

Any organisation wishing to advertise an internship must be fully registered with ARU Students’ Union Volunteer Centre and accept our Service Level Agreement.

All internships must additionally abide to the conditions listed in this Internship Policy and are accepted and promoted at the discretion of the Volunteer Centre on a case by case basis.

Internships must:

1. Be unpaid.

2. Not be a replacement for a previously paid role – there should be clear differences in responsibilities between unpaid and paid roles.

3. Be a good strategic and practical fit within the organisation and its values and supplement the work of paid staff which may involve supporting or delivering a distinct project.

4. Be beneficial for both the organisation and the volunteer.

5. Aim to benefit the environment, individuals or groups.

6. Have a strong focus on personal and skill development.

7. Provide a clear and truthful role description and role responsibilities.

8. Be up to a maximum of 3 weeks full time during holiday periods (usually over the summer) or full time equivalent during teaching weeks, for a maximum of 15 hours per week.

9. Be time limited, rather than open ended, and have a clear start and finish date.

10. Allow volunteering hours to be flexible and mutually agreed between the organisation and volunteer based upon a volunteer’s availability, existing commitments and allow the volunteer to leave the role at any time.