International Students

Academic Training

Academic Training: The Basics

As a J-1 student, if you wish to work off-campus in an employment or internship opportunity in your field of study, you may apply for “Academic Training” (AT). Academic Training employment or internships can be paid or unpaid, and may be done part-time during your studies or full-time during vacation periods. Many students participate in professional internships immediately following their studies. You may apply to extend your J-1 status to do AT for an internship or employment opportunity to begin immediately following your studies; your application must be received before your J-1 program ends and the employment or training opportunity must begin within 30 days of the end of your J-1 program.

To qualify, you must:

  • be a full-time student in good academic standing and have completed at least two academic PSU courses with a grade of C or better,
  • obtain an internship or off-campus employment opportunity in your field of study at PSU, which must be primarily in-person,
  • obtain a recommendation from a PSU professor or academic advisor in your field of study, and
  • obtain authorization from a J-1 International Student and Scholar Advisor before beginning any work.

You are eligible for academic training for up 18 months or the duration of your Exchange Visitor program, whichever is less. This includes AT authorized during your exchange program (pre-completion) or following it (post-completion). Students who complete a doctoral degree become eligible for an additional 18 months of AT that may only be used after completing their degree, giving them the possibility of up to 36 months of AT in total.

Step 1 - Meet with your ISSS Advisor

After reviewing the information on this website, please meet with your advisor in ISSS to go over any questions or concerns you have about the Academic Training application process.

Step 2 - Find a job

The next step is to find a training opportunity. You may utilize resources through your academic Department at PSU, as well as through the University Career Center, to find an appropriate training opportunity. Please note that the Department of State requires that Academic Training experiences be at least 60% in-person.

Step 3 - Meet with your Host Supervisor

The Host Supervisor is the person at the organization where you will engage in Academic Training who will supervise your experience there. This person will be involved with both the application for Academic Training and with the evaluation of your training experience.

You may use the Academic Training Worksheet for Student Forms to ensure that you collect all the relevant information you will need for your Academic Training request. You and your Host Supervisor will need to work together to identify three to five training objectives that you will work on during your AT experience. These objectives will need to be concrete and measurable. You and your supervisor may use the Academic Training Worksheet for Hosts document to plan these goals.

You and your Host Supervisor may save a copy of this worksheet for your future reference; your responses in the Training Plan eform will also be available for you to download from WorldLink as an "AT Training Plan Summary" after your AT request has been approved, in case you misplace your copy of the worksheet. You should also review the Academic Training: Agreement for J-1 Exchange Students together to understand the rules you and your Host Supervisor will need to follow during your AT.

If you are the student’s Host Supervisor, you may wish to review this Academic Training Quick Guide for Hosts for an overview of the required steps and responsibilities during a student’s AT.

Step 4 - Meet with your Academic Advisor

Once you have identified your training objectives, you should review these objectives with your academic advisor, since they will need to understand your goals and how the training opportunity you are pursuing will help you reach those goals.

If you are the student’s Academic Advisor, you may wish to review this Academic Training Quick Guide for Academic Advisors for an overview of the required steps during a student’s Academic Training application.

Step 5 - Submit your application in WorldLink

You will need to submit your Academic Training request in WorldLink so that it may be reviewed and approved by your international student advisor in ISSS. There are several forms that you will need to complete as part of the application:

  1. Student Application: This form collects information about you and your proposed employment or training opportunity.
  2. Training Plan: This form allows you to describe the training goals that you will achieve by participating in AT.
  3. Student/Host Agreement: This form contains important information about the rules you and your Host Supervisor will need to follow during your AT.
  4. Academic Adviser Review: This form will allow your academic advisor to recommend your AT authorization.

In some cases, you may be asked to complete a fifth form to provide additional proof of financial support during your planned period of AT. This might be required if you will need to extend your DS-2019 and your wages or salary during your AT do not appear to be sufficient to meet your expected living expenses.

Step 6 - Complete your evaluations

The Academic Training regulations require that AT experiences be evaluated for the effectiveness in accomplishing the student’s training goals. In order to ensure Portland State’s compliance with this requirement, you will be required to complete one or more evaluations during the period of your AT authorization:

  • For AT authorizations lasting 6 months or longer, you will complete a mid-term evaluation halfway through your AT authorization period.
  • For all AT authorizations, you will complete a final evaluation at the end of your AT authorization period.

These evaluations will also be completed through WorldLink. You will receive an email notification when an evaluation deadline is approaching, including instructions on how to complete the evaluation and a link to the appropriate form in WorldLink for doing so.

If you use the Training Plan Worksheet mentioned in the Host Supervisor section to complete your Training Plan eform, you may wish to refer back to this document to complete your evaluation form(s). If you misplace your Training Plan Worksheet, you can request a copy of your responses from the Training Plan form to help you complete the evaluation form(s).