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Internships

1. What

The course “Internship” offers the possibility of spending a training period in a workplace, other than the educational institute where the trainee/student (hereafter called the trainee) is currently registered, or has been registered in the past and other than a company or institute in which the trainee has been employed, has done any internship or has done any research activity in the past.

An internship, as part of the student's curriculum, is always unpaid.

The content of the internship is determined by the educational programme of the trainee.

IMPORTANT! Results or data gathered during the internship cannot partially nor completely be used for the master dissertation. The master dissertation and internship need to be strictly separated in time and subject. A master dissertation includes mainly research; an internship involves day-to-day working experience at a company.

Used terminology:

  • Internship course holder(s): responsible ZAP member of the course ‘internship’ (check the UGent course catalogue)
  • Academic promoter: responsible ZAP member of the internship
  • Internship provider: responsible contact person of the internship
  • Internship supervisor: daily supervisor of the internship

2. When

Generally, the internship will be executed

  • during the summer recess between the 1st and 2nd master year;
  • another timing in function of the student’s personal time table, provided that the internship doesn’t interfere with other academic activities.

Upon agreement with the internship provider and the academic promoter of the internship, the trainee can divide the workdays in different periods, only if the total period covers the minimum required workdays as stated in the course catalogue of UGent.

As the insurance coverage is only guaranteed in the period applied for, any adjustment to the internship period always has to be mentioned to the Faculty Student Administration, .

3. Duration and course specifications

The duration of an internship depends on the amount of credits allocated to the course (programme specific). See UGent course catalogue for more details.

4. Where

Finding an internship position is the responsibility of the student. The student is responsible and in charge of finding and approaching an organization willing to provide an internship, and for developing a proposal responding to the minimum requirements. The student needs to contact companies and/or organizations the student is interested in to work with and he/she asks for the possibility of an internship. The student is responsible for developing a proposal responding to the programme specific requirements of an internship.

The faculty website, programme promoter, programme coordinator, course holder and/or teachers can offer suggestions. The internship offer is programme specific.

The student also initiates the contact with his internship provider, and additionally his academic promotor. Sometimes the internship provider will help the student to find an academic promoter within their university network, related to the topic of the internship. If not, a student searches an academic promoter familiar with the topic, and in case of doubt, the internship course holder can be asked for advice.

5. Supervision and guidance

  • At Ghent University, the trainee will be supervised by an academic promoter
  • For international joint programmes:
    • MSc in Rural Development': the student will be supervised by an academic promoter, which is a lecturer from one of the main partner institutes IMRDV
    • International MSc in Sustainable and innovative natural resource management: the student will be supervised by an academic promoter, which is a lecturer from one of the main partner institutes IMSINR, different from UGent

6.1 Application - Submitting the internship proposal

IMPORTANT! Preparing your internship involves some administrative procedures. Carefully follow the instructions below!
Students following one of the international joint programmes only need to follow these procedures in case they defend the internship at UGent.

The student submits his/her internship proposal to the internship course holder or programme promoter:

  • Name + e-mail address of the academic promoter
  • Name +e-mail address of the internship provider, and if applicable, name of the daily supervisor
  • Name of the work place
  • Period / starting and ending date of the internship
  • Subject of the internship
  • Objectives
  • Content

6.2 Application - Establishing the UGent internship contract

Step 1 - Complete the online web form and save it

  • For 'International MSc in Rural Development' (IMRDV): select Prof. Stijn Speelman as internship coordinator for all IMRD internships
  • For 'International MSc in Sustainable and innovative natural resource management (IMSINR): select Prof. Gijs Du Laing as internship coordinator for all IMSINR internships

A request for approval will be automatically sent to the academic promoter at Ghent University.

The proposal can be submitted throughout the year, but:

  • submit before 1 May if it takes place in the summer recess
  • submit 2 months before the start of the internship in all other cases

Step 2 - Complete your application

When the academic promoter approves, the information provided in the web form is used to generate a “contract of practical training” which is sent to the trainee, including instructions on the next steps.

Print three copies of the two page contract and add the following annexes:

Step 3 - Sign all three copies of all documents and send them to the internship provider

The internship provider signs the three copies, completes the Risk Analysis Form and returns the complete set of documents to the trainee.

Step 4 - Submit the complete set of documents to the Faculty Student Administration (FSA)

  • Send or personally submit to: FSA, office A1.101, Campus Coupure, Coupure Links
  • In case you are staying at a partner institute, you are allowed to scan these signed documents and mail it to via your UGent E-mail address.

The FSA will obtain the Dean’s signature and send back two copies of the signed package to the trainee.

Step 5 - Keep one set of documents and return the other duly signed set to the internship provider

6.3 Application - Specific health assessment

  • A Risk Analysis Form is completed by the internship provider.
  • Only if the internship provider indicates the need for “Specific health assessment” on the last page of the Risk Analysis Form, then he also needs to complete the Work Station File
  • The trainee submits this Work Station File together with the other documents (6.1.) to the Faculty Student Administration.
  • The Faculty Student Administration then arranges an appointment for the trainee with the UGent Department of Occupational Medicine.

Even if the internship provider does not indicate a need for “Specific health assessment”, the trainee may still be invited for an appointment with the UGent Department of Occupational Medicine, e.g. for specific medical advice or vaccinations.

6.4 Application - Going abroad

In case you go abroad in the framework of your internship, you need to:

  1. register this in OASIS, before the departure. Therefore the student needs to open in OASIS the tool 'exchange' in the academic year in which the internship will be part of the student's curriculum. Complete all required fields which will be opened gradually.
  2. send a message to after registration in OASIS with the message 'I registered my internship in OASIS', mention your name and the name of your academic promoter.

Once registered in OASIS, the central administration UGent is able to include this information in your diploma supplement, which is very important. The diploma supplement is designed to provide a description of the nature, level, context, content and status of the studies that were pursued and successfully completed by the individual named on the original qualification to which this supplement is appended.

IMPORTANT!
  1. Changes in the working dates mentioned on the internship agreement should be immediately reported to the Faculty Student Administration, . This is essential, because trainees are only insured during the registered periods.
  2. It is within the responsibility of the student to read carefully the rights and duties before starting the internship.

7. Internship report

Content

  1. Acknowledgement (1 page)
  2. Description of the workplace, organization: situation, structure, activities, organigram ... (max 2 pages)
  3. Description of the training period: when and where (daily/weekly work schedule)
  4. Report of the major activities the student performed and was involved in (max 15 pages):
    • scope
    • material & methods
    • results
    • conclusions
  5. Report of student's experience: evaluation (max 2 pages)
    • Technical aspects: what did the student learn, what was interesting, ...
    • Social aspects: did the student improve some social skills?...
    • Evaluation work situation: strong and weak points, suggestions for improvement
  6. Relate the experience to the study program. How well did the master program prepare you for the internship? Which courses were most useful for the duties you had to perform? What should be more emphasized in the course program and what is missing? (max 2 pages)

See course catalogue for more details.

Lay-out

  • Size: A4
  • Colour cover: white
  • Paper copies: printed on both sides
  • No specific requirements regarding font type, font size, spacing or citation style @ FBE. However, the typographic choices must give the text a neat and well-organized look.

For the international joint programmes , if there are any specific rules regarding lay-out or font, ... at your current institution, please follow those rules and check also your specific master dissertation programme guidelines!

8. Submission of the report

The report has to be submitted electronically the latest 6 weeks after completion of the internship to:

  • The academic promotor
  • The internship provider
  • The internship course holder
  • Faculty Student Administration (hard copy!): Coupure Links, room A1.101

For students of international joint programmes:

  • Only necessary in case the student defends the internship at UGent!
  • If not, the student needs to follow the guidelines of the student's consortium programme

9. Evaluation

In case the student defends the internship at UGent, data and time for internship presentations will be announced by the FSA.

  • The defense is held in English
  • The defense is composed of 10 minutes of oral presentation followed by 15 minutes of discussion
  • The internship is evaluated by the internship course holder of the programme, the academic promotor and the internship provider or supervisor from the workplace.
  • See UGent course catalogue for more programme specific details.

Questions & Contact

Questions about the internship procedure English master programmes: