Internships

The Sociology Internship Program is designed to provide junior and senior sociology majors with the opportunity to strengthen their understanding of ideas they have learned in classes and to shape their career interests.

Throughout the summer, students actively apply their sociological knowledge to gain a deeper understanding of their internship experiences. Participation in the program requires both on-site and academic work.

Internships are one of the most important steps toward future employment. About a third of internships turn into jobs either with the original organization, or because of connections made during the internship.

Some organizations where Sociology students have interned include:

• SIAR research & consulting agency http://siar-consult.com
• “M-Vector” Research & Consulting http://www.m-vector.com
• PIL Research Company http://pilresearch.com/our-team/
• El-Pikir Center for Public Opinion Study and Forecasting http://elpikir.kg
• GIZ Bishkek https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/356.html
• UN Women in Kyrgyzstan https://eca.unwomen.org/en/where-we-are/kyrgyzstan
• International Finance Corporation (IFC) http://www.donors.kg/en/agencies/98-ifc
• Public Foundation “Health Policy Analysis Center” http://hpac.kg/en/about/
• Aga Khan Foundation https://www.akdn.org/our-agencies/aga-khan-foundation

Here’s what some Sociology majors had to say about their Sociology internship experience!

Farkhad Musazov, SOC 116

During the internship I increased and reinforced my theoretical knowledge in social research and strengthened my sociological skills and understanding. I was involved in the entire research project which gives me the knowledge of how the research project in fact looks like. From the begging till the end I realized what was going on and why it should be done. If previously I had only theoretical knowledge about the research, this internship gave me full picture of each step of the research process and how they are interconnected.

Aigerim Niyazova, SOC 116

Overall, the internship showed me the work of sociologists and gave me an idea of what would I do in the future working by my specialty. What I really liked during the internship are the meetings in the beginning when we were discussing the literature review. Every person had his/her own subtopic, so all of us were searching only the small parts of a greater theme. So it was very interesting when we were coming to the meetings and sharing our knowledge with each other. It was similar to when small grains gather in one big picture, so that we were getting a full representation of the whole subject, and I had a feeling that each of us contributes to this.