Internships

Guidelines and regulations

What

An internship is a position held by the student as a trainee in an organization in order to gain work experience. It provides the opportunity to familiarise with the labour market before the conclusion of one's studies by applying the knowledge acquired during the Program to concrete problems of interest for a company and by acquiring new related skills. By being involved in a professional environment, the internship allows the student to learn more about the career path she/he intends to pursue. Furthermore, employers are much more likely to hire someone with previous work experience which, for students, can indeed be acquired through an internship.

Where

Internships can be held either at research institutions or in public or private companies. The selection of the hosting institution can be done according to the three following possibilities:

• You can find all information on websites of the Job Placement office of the School of Natural Sciences and of the Job Placement office of the School of Management and Economics.

• Students can find a hosting institution by their own initiative. In this case, the institution needs to stipulate a standard agreement with the University of Torino. Refer to the homepage of the Job Placement office of the School of Natural Sciences for more details.

• Orientation Days are organized in the first semester of every academic year, where companies and research institutions presents their activities and internship possibilities. These are great opportunities to meet hosting institution and interact directly with them. Look out for these announcements, some of which will be advertised to the SDS mailing list. 

How

Internships can be formally recognised as CFU in the student's Career Plan. To this end, they must receive advance formal approval by the Internship and Orientation Committee (sds-internship@unito.it), after which the student inserts in the career plan  the appropriate course code according to the Committee’s indication.
Recognition of the Internship in the Career Plan can be done according to one of the following, mutually exclusive, possibilities:

1) Internship unrelated to the final dissertation: from 3 to 12 CFU - recommended for internships not longer than 6 months

The internship substitutes from 3 to 12 free credits in the student's Career Plan depending on the time commitment of the activity, where 75 hours at the host institution count as 3 free credits.

2) Internship with associated final dissertation: from 24+6 to 24+12 CFU (thesis+internship)- recommended for internships of at least 6 months

If the topic of the final dissertation is based on the activities carried out during the internship, the time commitment spent for the internship activities can substitute the time commitment foreseen for the thesis (24 CFU) together with 6 to 12 free credits in the student's Career Plan, where 6 months in the host institution count as 6 free credits. In this case, the student is still required to produce a dissertation to be defended at the final examination, elaborated under the supervision of an SDS faculty member, possibly the Internship internal advisor.

 

Administrative procedure

Internships can be formally recognised as CFU in the student's Career Plan subject to prior and final approval by the Internship and Orientation Committee and the Executive board.

Important note:
It is the student's responsibility to take the necessary administrative steps with sufficient anticipation to allow the Committees the time for evaluating the proposal, prior the beginning of the Internship, and to be able to modify the Career Plan to include the internship (information on the Career Plans are available here).

Independently from the type of internship (with or without final dissertation included) it is crucial that an "internship agreement" is established.

In case of a type 2) internship (with final dissertation included) an agreement for an external thesis must be also established, in addition to the internship agreement. In this context, the credit amount pertaining to the internship will be recognized only upon completion of all the established period (internship+thesis) in the external institution.

Procedure:

1. A standard agreement between the hosting institution and the Turin University needs to be stipulated. For all the institutions present in the lists of the two job placement offices, the agreement is already signed. If not, refer to the homepage of the Job Placement office of the School of Natural Sciences for more details.

2. Once the hosting institution has been selected and the agreement signed (if needed), it is necessary to find an Internship Supervisor, responsible for the activities within the institution, and a Faculty Advisor among the faculty members. In accordance with the Internship Supervisor and the Faculty Advisor, the student fills an Internship Project proposal, following this template. The Project must be coherent with the Career Plan, regardless of the type of Internship chosen (thesis related or not).

3. The Internship Proposal is sent to the Internship and Orientation Committee via email (sds-internship@unito.it). The committee will evaluate the proposal and provide a adequacy evaluation to the Executive Board.

4. After the approval by the Executive Board is notified to the student, the final Internship Project form (following this template, currently only in italian) must be filled in and sent to the Job Placement offices of the School of Natural Sciences at least 20 days before the formal beginning of the internship.

5. Internship credits must be entered in the career plan using one of the following codes: MAT0173 (3 CFU), MAT0077 (3 CFU), MAT0078 (6 CFU), MAT0308 (6 CFU), MAT0174 (9 CFU), MAT0174 (12 CFU).

6. During the internship, compile and sign the presence logbook.

7. When the internship is completed, the student sends the end-of-internship documents to the job placement and to the Internship and Orientation Committee. At the same time, the student sends the Internship and Orientation Committee a report on the work done during the period emphasizing the new topics studied and the new skills acquired.

8. The student must enroll to the appropriate exam session to have the CFU recognized.

Contacts

The Internship and Orientation Committee is currently composed by Marco Beccuti, Laura Sacerdote e Cristina Zucca.

For further information, please contact the Internship and Orientation Committee at the address sds-internship@unito.it