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When undergraduate students come to Queen’s, they take courses taught by world-class faculty members that help them learn the topics they’re passionate about, from the fundamentals to leading-edge discoveries. But they also can take time away from the classroom and apply what they’ve learned in professional settings to help develop skills for their future careers through the Queen’s Undergraduate Internship Program (QUIP).

QUIP connects over 500 students each year with 12-16 month paid internships, placing them in professionally supervised opportunities in a wide range of fields, from engineering to the arts to public administration. The invaluable experience students get from QUIP contributes to more than 95 per cent of Queen’s graduates being employed within six months of graduation.

“Having hands-on experience in a professional workplace provides Queen’s students a real advantage in today’s job market,” says Meg Ferriman, Senior Director, Student Experience and Career Development. “Spending 12-16 months in an internship allows students to build strong relationships and take on more challenging tasks. QUIP is a great option for students looking to grow their skills, build their network, and try on a career they think they might be interested in.”

Centrally administered by Career Services in Student Affairs, QUIP is available to students in Smith Engineering, the Faculty of Arts and Science, and ���Ҵ�ý Health Sciences.

Turning data into maps

Emilia Gillette (ArtSci’25) recently graduated from Queen’s with a degree in environmental biology and a certificate in geographic information science (GIS). While a student, she took part in QUIP and completed an internship with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation in Kingston, where she used GIS software to make more than 90 maps that helped her office communicate complex data across the ministry. These maps capture essential information about operations that many people in the province benefit from, often without realizing it, including drainage for roads and routes for snowplows. Converting large datasets into maps in this way helps people across the ministry plan and coordinate the operations that help Ontarians get where they need to go.

Gillette was driven to pursue an internship by a desire to see the principles she was learning in her courses in action. She was fascinated by the material, but she wanted to see how her knowledge could be used outside the classroom. Looking back on her experience, she says she came away with not only technical skills but also a sense of professionalism and confidence that she believes will set her up for success wherever she works in the future.

“One of the most memorable parts of my internship is the feeling I got from solving problems I didn’t think I could figure out on my own,” says Gillette. “There were times when I’d be asked to do something and felt like I didn’t even know where to start at first. But if I was patient, I could usually find the answer myself. That’s what makes QUIP so important for students. It’s not just giving technical and interpersonal skills. It gives you the confidence to face complex challenges and know you can conquer them.”

Gillette was able to continue her work with the Ministry of Transportation on a short-term contract over the summer after graduating. This gave her the chance to continue refining her GIS skills and also brought her experience full circle, as she was able to help train the ministry’s new QUIP intern.

“If you think you’re interested in QUIP, you should definitely sign up for the job board and just see what’s out there,” says Gillette. “I think everyone should seek out some hands-on experience while they’re at Queen’s. Not only did I build up my skills, but when I came back to my coursework I felt like I was able to dig deeper into the material and get more out of it than before. QUIP really showed me how well academic and practical experience can reenforce each other.”

An engineering opportunity for an international student

Runqi Xie (Sci’25) knew that QUIP offered students a unique opportunity to gain experience in engineering, but, as an international student from China, she was afraid that English being her second language would make it difficult for her to thrive in a Canadian workplace. She found instead that her internship made her more comfortable with English while giving her valuable experience in the energy sector through her placement at Ontario Power Generation (OPG) in Pickering, Ontario.

“This internship not only gave me technical experience and exposure to the Canadian workplace, but it also helped me gain confidence in my communication skills and in myself,” says Xie. “Language felt like one of the biggest roadblocks to finding a job in Canada and this experience showed me that I can overcome it. I also learned more about my own strengths and potential through this opportunity which made it meaningful.”

Xie’s work focused on ensuring compliance with government regulations and industry standards for nuclear energy, a role that required her to collaborate with a large team of engineers with different specialties. What stood out to Xie in her experience was OPG’s commitment to giving her meaningful work and mentorship. Her manager asked her to contribute right away by tasking her with a project to develop a new system for tracking the hundreds of actions her team needed to perform over the next 180 days, a project that quickly connected her with her new colleagues. From there, her responsibilities grew steadily and included drafting a maintenance strategy for manual valves used at nuclear power plants, which is being considered for use across OPG’s nuclear sites.

Xie’s aspirations for the future were never out of sight of her mentors. She met regularly with both her immediate supervisor and senior manager to discuss her work at OPG and the professional and educational paths she may want to pursue.

“It meant a lot to receive guidance not just about work, but also about life and long-term goals,” says Xie. “Having someone with experience in both industry and academia to talk to was incredibly helpful and encouraging.”

Learn more about QUIP on the .