ECO400Y Economics Internship
Now Open: 2025-26 Applications
The Department of Economics offers a credit-based internship to its course offerings to complement studies, and help fourth-year students to gain valuable experiential learning through an unpaid work placement in preparation for employment or grad school.
What is an internship?
Students are placed as interns in workplaces where economics expertise is applied on a daily basis. The ECO400Y5Y internships are unpaid; however, the students earn a full course credit.
Internships take a variety of forms. In some cases, the “employer” may ask the student to complete an individual research project. In other cases, the student may take on a role within an existing project team. Fieldwork, database management or specific software may be involved, depending on the background, interests, and skills of the student.
To successfully complete the internship, students fulfil a work commitment of 200 hours (approximately equivalent to one day per week of the academic year). The scheduling of the work commitment is flexible and is to be worked out by mutual agreement between the student and the employer.
What are the goals of the course?
The primary purpose of the course is to provide students with an opportunity to apply in a practical setting the economics expertise they have gained through their coursework at UTM. This is accomplished through work placements or “internships”. Internships provide students with a valuable opportunity to make personal contacts in the economic sector. The course is also intended to bridge the gap between graduation and full-time employment. Therefore, attention is paid to helping students acquire practical skills that will serve them in their job searches and, eventually in the workplace. The course includes speakers focusing on practical issues relevant to the economic sector. The final written submission and oral presentation contribute to the development of communication skills.
What types of opportunities exist?
Common placement areas include:
- Economic Data Analysis (specific subfield: Environmental, Health, Behavioural, Educational, Financial etc.)
- Policy/International Relations/NGOs
- Law
- Financial Planning/Wealth Management
- Investment Banking
- Private Equity/Fund Management/Trade/Risk
- Strategy Consulting & Business Incubator
- Business Start-ups
- Market Research/Analysis
- Other (suggested by students)
Some of our site partner organizations who host our interns include::
- AGAWA Fund Management
- Accureta Wealth Management™, iA Private Wealth
- Assante Wealth Management
- Bank of Canada
- City of Mississauga
- IG Wealth Management
- Impact Infrastructure (Autocase)
- Mississauga Board of Trade
- NATO Association of Canada
- Newcomers Centre Peel (NCP)
- Social Planning Council of Peel (SPC)
- Semper8 Capital
- The Government of Ontario
- Xenex Enterprises Inc.
Contact
If you are interested in participating in our internship course ECO400Y5 as an intern (students) or internship supervisor (employers), please review the information hyperlinked and direct any questions to our Internship Coordinator & Outreach Officer in the Department of Economics.