Indian Council for Cultural Relations has opened up applications for internships starting from May 1st 2025.
About Indian Council for Cultural Relations
Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), an autonomous body under the Ministry of External Affairs, engaged in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes pertaining to India’s external cultural relations.
To foster and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between India and other countries and to promote cultural exchanges with other countries and people.
About the Opportunity
IICR invites applications from eligible candidates for internships in New Delhi and its Regional Offices in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Guwahati, Ahmadabad and Hyderabad.
The internship programme will provide an opportunity for the officers of the ICCR to interact with young thinking minds with brilliant academic records from reputed institutions.
Ideas from budding scholars will prove to be of importance to ICCR and at the same time, the internship programme will also provide the interns with an excellent opportunity to familiarise themselves with the role of soft power in foreign policy formulation in the Government of India.
More information is given in the brochure below this post.
Number of Vacancies
A maximum of 15 interns will be engaged by ICCR during the course of a year. Each intern will be engaged for a maximum period of four months.
Roles and Responsibilities
The internship programme provides an introduction to the process of formulation of soft power diplomacy and its implementation by ICCR.
Interns will be assigned specific topics of work by the concerned Sectional Head and may be required to conduct research, write reports, analyze evolving developments or carry out any other task entrusted to them by the Sectional Heads.
At the end of the internship, each intern shall submit a detailed report on the work carried out and, if required, make a presentation on it.
The outcome of the study during the internship will remain as intellectual property of ICCR and interns shall not use it without prior approval of ICCR. The intern shall maintain full confidentiality and secrecy of any information relating to ICCR.
Eligibility Criteria
- Internships at ICCR Headquarters and Regional Offices shall be open to Indian citizens with a minimum educational qualification of graduation in Humanities, Mass Communication, Journalism, Designing, Anthropology, History, Art, Archaeology Science, Languages, Museology and Fine Arts.
- They should be a maximum age of 25 years as of 31st December of the year of internship.
- PG/Research students and foreign language students can also apply.
- Research scholars with formal background in lnternational Relations and soft power projection will be given preference depending upon the requirement of ICCR.
- The intern should have an excellent academic track record and should preferably be from any recognized University in India. The candidates with the highest marks are most likely to be called for a Personal interview.
Stipend
An honorarium of INR 10,000 per month will be paid to each intern to defray basic costs.
Cost of one-time to and fro air travel subject to a ceiling of the prevailing economy class airfare between the State capital and Delhi, from the domicile State or from the college/ university of the selected candidates will be provided.
The interns would be responsible for their board and lodging in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Guwahati, Ahmadabad and Hyderabad during the period of their internship.
How to Apply?
Interested students can send their applications, along with their CVs, in the enclosed format to Dy. Director General (Administration), ICCR at Azad Bhavan, lP Estate, New Delhi on email lD directoradmin.iccr@gov.in, with a copy to spdadmn.iccr@gov.in.
The candidate will be required to produce a permission letter from their Supervisor/ Head of Department, in case he/ she is interested in joining an internship during their coursework.
Selection Process
All the applications will be scrutinised by a Selection Committee and the actual offer will be sent to the selected candidates subject to the availability of a slot.
The decision of the Selection Committee shall be final and binding and no queries shall be entertained after the completion of the selection process. The selection process will be an ongoing process taking into account the requirements of ICCR.
The selection process will consist of two stages viz. Preliminary Screening and Personal Interview. The total number of candidates called for interviews will be three times the number of interns to be engaged in each year.
Candidates selected in the merit list based on the marks obtained in graduation will be called for personal interviews to be conducted by video conferencing. Both Preliminary Screening and Personal interviews will be done by two separate Committees with members of not less than 03 ICCR officials in each Committee.
A maximum of 15 candidates will be selected from the interview process and offered internships. If any selected candidate opts out, those candidates will be barred from future internships and the next candidate on merit will be offered the opportunity.
Declaration of Secrecy
Interns are required to furnish to ICCR a declaration of secrecy before the commencement of the internship. Verification and vetting from a security angle have to be completed on the basis of personal particulars submitted by the intern, after the selection process and before the actual internship programme commences.
How to Apply?
Interested applicants can apply through this link.
Application Deadline
April 6th 2025.
