External internship

 

Procedure for earning the external internship

The external internship is one of the four options through which the student may earn the 2 CFU credits for the curricular internship. It consists of a period of professional training at companies, research institutions or universities, either national or international, external to the University of Ferrara. The activity is carried out under the supervision of a representative of the host institution. The workload amounts to 50 hours, corresponding to 2 CFU credits (1 CFU credit for the internship equals 25 hours).

Unlike the internal internship, the external internship requires the student to carry out a preliminary liaison activity: before formally activating the credits, the student must identify an external institution willing to host them and build a connection between the University and the host company or institution. This means identifying two reference figures, an academic tutor (a faculty member of the degree programme, who may coincide with the thesis advisor) and a company tutor (a representative of the host institution), and ensuring that the two figures get in touch with each other to define the training project together. Without this preliminary contact between the company and the University, the internship cannot be started.

All operational information on insurance coverage and administrative requirements is handled by the University's Internships and Placement Office. Before starting, the student must review this information and contact the office:

The steps required to activate and complete the external internship correctly are described below.

1 - Choice of the institution and Company-University liaison. The student:

  • identifies an external institution (company, research institution or university) willing to host them during the internship;
  • reviews the information of the Internships and Placement Office and contacts it to activate the procedures relating to the period at the host institution;
  • identifies an academic tutor, who monitors the activity and who may coincide with the thesis advisor, and a company tutor at the host institution, and ensures that the two figures get in touch with each other;
  • draws up the training project in collaboration with the academic tutor and the representative of the external institution;
  • activates the Almalaurea procedure (curricular internships office) for insurance coverage.

2 - Activation of the credits. Before the start of the internship, the student completes the activation form for the external internship (External_Internship_Credits_F_Form_EN.docx) and sends it by email to both of the following addresses:

3 - Completion of the activity. At the end of the external internship, three reports must be completed:

The grade is recorded once all 3 type F credits have been earned. Only after completing both the 1 CFU credit for third mission activities and the 2 CFU credits for the curricular internship does the student register for the type F credits examination session, which is followed by the formal recording of the grade by Prof. Fabio Mantovani.