The NMS Summer Student Programme gives an alternative summer option to undergraduate students of physics, engineering, computing and mathematics, who are nationals of Non Member States of CERN. The Programme offers a first-class education course that consists of interesting lectures, discussion sessions, visits to many experimental and computing facilities around CERN and, more importantly, work inteams of the experiment, accelerator and technical domains.. Moreover, the students have the unique opportunity to make valuable contacts within the scientific community, as they constantly collaborate and socialize with many different people in a multicultural, multidisciplinary environment.

The NMS Summer Students Programme constitutes an important part of CERN's policy of promoting greater global integration in particle physics. According to Emmanuel Tsesmelis, the coordinator of the Programme, many former NMS summer students have gone on to bright careers in science and they have often facilitated scientific collaborations between CERN and their countries.

Although being a summer student is definitely a remarkable experience, there are special challenges  for NMS nationals. Many of them have never left their countries before and Europe offers a new cultural experience to them.  They have to adjust to new lifestyles, languages and not to mention more day-to-day habits. 

Moreover, another problem for the students from the southern hemisphere is that their university classes are in sessionduring the European summer. For this reason it has been suggested that CERN should consider setting up a winter school at CERN during the European winter that will offer the opportunity to students coming from the southern hemisphere attend outside their university semesters.

There are also several administrative issues to be dealt with, such as the visa that many NMS students require to come to CERN, correspondence with applicants and professors, arrangements for financial payments, organization of the student application files etc. Thanks to the invaluable help and support of Marina Savino (PH-UCM), Michelle Connor (PH-AGS), and Anca Burghart, these admistrative issues are settled successfully. One of course should also acknowledge the role of Morna Robillard (PH-EDU) who recently retired.

As Emmanuel Tsesmelis notes, the Programme, which started out under John Elllis, has developed significantly over the past ten years. In 2003 there were 30 NMS summer students and in 2013 there are already more than 130.The selection process is very competitive and only the very best students can be chosen. In 2013, only 8% from 1600 applicants has been recruited. Although for now it seems impossible to accept more students it is certainly something we are considering for the future.

The NMS Summer Students Programme is financed only partly by CERN, which allocates funds mainly to students from developing countries. Additional funding is provided by the governments and universities of the Non Member States. There are also several organizations that support NMS summer students. For example, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has disbursed grants to many students from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Engin Arik Memorial Fund supports Turkish students and Procter & Gamble has supported students from developing countries.. Tsesmelis states: “we are very grateful to all the external sponsors of the NMS Summer Student Programme] and we want to continue our collaboration in the future”.  Altogether, sources of external financing are vital to the continuation of the Programme.