Internships
Internship policy
IFCEN students put their knowledge into practice during three internships, for a total duration of eight months.
1- Operator internship :
This one-month internship aims at helping students understand the industrial world. Students are employed as manual workers. The internship takes place at the end of year 3, from 1 July to 31 August.
2- Engineer internship :
During this two-month internship, students experience a junior engineer position. Interns contribute to projects within a team under the supervision of senior engineers, on site or in labs. The internship takes place at the end of year 5, from 1 July to 15 September.
3- Final-year internship :
During this five-month internship, students perform a long-term project with engineering complexity or innovation. The internship takes place during year 6, from 1 December to 15 May.
Training program targets :
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Train top-level engineers fluent in three working languages: Chinese, French and English;
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Build a bridge between academia and the nuclear industry;
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Contribute to the development of Sino-French projects such as Taishan (China) and Hinkley Point (UK).
Internship Brochure
Q&A
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What are the major fields of expertise of IFCEN students?
Neutronics, numerical simulation, software development, automatic control and robotics, reactor design, solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, irradiated materials, thermal hydraulics, radiochemistry, process chemistry, fuel cycle, operation and maintenance of nuclear power plants.
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How to select the interns?
You can select the interns according to your own criteria.
Upon request, IFCEN can shortlist the applicants.
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What do the companies have to do to enroll interns?
Provide internship descriptions, establish internship agreements, comply with local labour regulations related to internships, supervise and evaluate interns. -
What about internship conditions and allowances?
Companies freely determine internship conditions and
allowances, in compliance with local labour regulations.
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How to evaluate the interns?
At the completion of each internship, the supervisor fills the evaluation form provided by IFCEN and returns it to IFCEN in due time. For final-year internships, supervisors are members of the defense juries that take place in June.
How to enroll IFCEN students for the 2016-2017 season
Laure LIU Lu
Student of Y2011, in Istitut Mines-Télécom Atlantique, Nantes, France
I’m doing my final year internship in Institut Mines-Télécom (IMT) Atlantique. I am included in a vast project about the investigation of the environmental impact of a former uranium mine. My work is to develop passive samplers specific to Radium and Polonium.
In this project, many people of different nationalities work together to achieve the final goal, and each of them takes the responsibility to complete a part of the project. I think that teamwork is the most important thing that I have learned since I started my internship, because research is never an individual work.
Didier LI Aolin
Student of Y2011, at EDF in Shenzhen, China
I am currently an intern at EDF (China) Holding Ltd, Shenzhen branch. My main job is to study, through numerical simulation, the cold cracking sensitivity during the welding process. During the first month of the internship, I dedicated much time on project planning and literature review regarding my project.
I was surprised that I still had to use fracture mechanics, one of the most difficult subjects I have learned at IFCEN. In addition to this major task, I also participate in activities such as weekly meetings, translation tasks and communication with visitors.
Through this experience, I have started to understand how a company is run. I learn how to position my own role and to better manage my tasks. All these, I believe, will set a sound foundation for my future career.
Oscar YOU Jiao
Student of Y2011, in Shenzhen
I am doing the final-year internship at Overall Design Department of China Nuclear Power Design Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen. I work as an assistant engineer in the domain of nuclear power plant equipment qualification (EQ). I am responsible for methodology of severe accident EQ, which will be used for the manufacturing and procurement of engineered safety features.
What I have learned includes the principles of EQ as well as its applications to severe accidents. But I have especially developed an active thinking way. Since there is no school syllabus to guide me during this internship, it’s time for me to start making my own decisions about what I should learn and how I should proceed. This is a fundamental change from school to work.
Testimonies of IFCEN's students
Annabelle FRIN and Kenza AMARA
Students from Ecole Polytechnique in France, interns at IFCEN for 6 months
We went to IFCEN for a 6-month internship, during which we helped organize “kholles”, which are oral examinations in mathematics and in physics. We were also responsible for the creation of a new website for the institute. We chose this internship because we wanted to get familiar with a different teaching environment, and because it gave us an opportunity to discover China and learn Chinese.
Our stay at IFCEN has taught us a lot: that teaching can be both challenging and rewarding, and that a good team spirit can be essential to make a project work. Most of all, we were confronted with a culture which is completely different from our own, and it was very interesting for us to compare the French and the Chinese ways of doing things – both during our work at IFCEN and in everyday life.
Testimonies of interns at IFCEN
