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Internships

What

The course “Internship” offers the possibility of spending a training period in a workplace, other than the educational institute where the student is currently registered, or has been registered in the past and other than a company or institute in which the student 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 student.

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 Study Guide)
  • Academic promoter: responsible ZAP member of the internship
  • Internship provider: responsible contact person of the internship
  • Internship supervisor: daily supervisor of the internship

Internship outside of your curriculum

It is possible to perform an internship that is not included in your curriculum. 

  • check the conditions for a voluntary internship
  • the subject of your internship has to be related to your current master programme
  • look for an academic promotor who can approve your internship proposal
  • to be covered by Ghent University insurance: fill in the contract you can download on this webpage
  • get the signature from the company/organization
  • get the signature from your academic promotor
  • deliver the signed contract to the Faculty Student Administration (you can also send it by e-mail to fsa.fbw@ugent.be), to get signature from the Dean

For a voluntary internship, you don't have to follow all the steps below.

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 student can divide the workdays in different periods, only if the total period covers the minimum required workdays as stated in the UGent Study Guide.

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, .

Duration and course specifications

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

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 initiates the contact with the internship provider and the academic promotor. The internship course holder can be asked for advice.

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
    • International MSc in Soils and Global Change': at Ghent University, the student will be supervised by an academic promoter
    • 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, different from UGent

Procedure

1. Submitting the internship proposal for approval

IMPORTANT! Preparing your internship involves quite some administration. Carefully follow the instructions below.

In order to get the academic approval, the student submits the 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

2. Establishing the UGent internship contract, necessary to be insured by UGent

Step 1 - Complete the online web form and save it

  • 'International MSc in Health Management in Aquaculture': select Prof. Annelies Declercq as internship coordinator
  • 'International MSc in Rural Development': select Prof. Stijn Speelman as internship coordinator
  • 'International MSc in Sustainable and Innovative Natural Resource Management: select Prof. Gijs Du Laing as internship coordinator
  • 'International MSc in Soils and Global Change': select Prof. Steven Sleutel as internship coordinator
  • All other English programmes: select the UGent academic promoter of your internship

The contract needs to be submitted throughout the year, but:

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

Step 2 - Signing process

  • 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 student, including instructions on the next steps.
  • You can start the signing process: get signature of the traineeship provider and add your signature
  • Add only one copy of the following annexes:

Step 3 - Submit the complete set of documents to the Faculty Student Administration (FSA)

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 students 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.

Going abroad

In case you go abroad in the framework of your internship: check out all the information on this webpage about possible mobility grants and registration of your mobility in Oasis.

Don't forget to send the approval of your internship from the internship coordinator to out.fbw@ugent.be.

When abroad

Confirmation of stay

  1. Print this document via Oasis.
  2. Have the arrival part of the document signed once you have arrived on your exchange destination.
  3. Have the departure part of the document signed before you return home.
  4. Upload the document in Oasis with your exchange application, as type 'Period of stay - departure' ('Verblijfperiode - vertrek').

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 UGent Study Guide for more details.

Lay-out

  • Size: A4
  • Colour cover: white
  • 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 internship programme guidelines!

Submission of the report

The report has to be submitted electronically the latest 6 weeks (International Msc in Soils and Global Change - Physical Land Resources and Global Change: 4 weeks!) after completion of the internship to:

  • The academic promotor
  • The internship provider
  • The internship course holder

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 Study Guide for more programme specific details.

Absent

Absent during your internship?

Immediately inform your internship mentor and register your absence by using the online tool Absent to inform the internship coordinator (prof. Paul Van der Meeren).

Questions & Contact

Questions about the internship procedure international master programmes: