h) Internships and Job Placements (students)

Internships and apprenticeships are periods of 'practical activity' in companies, public bodies or other institutions, both public and private, aimed at gaining 'on-the-job' experience - deepening and verifying the learning received during the course of study - and at facilitating entry into the world of work.

To this end, the Department enters into agreements with host institutions, while the Internship and Job Placement Service prepares the training projects matched to each trainee.

Traineeships may be curricular, within the limits set by the Philosophy course regulations, and extra-curricular, i.e. attendance is left to the student's free choice. Finally, training and guidance traineeships may be activated for graduates.

Activation procedure

To activate an internship/internship:

If you want to undertake a curricular internship and you are still unclear about the procedure, you should contact: University Orientation & Job Placement Student service: Sabrina Burocco - Rettorato, Duomo street 6 - tel. 0161 261559 sabrina.burocco@uniupo.it, receives by appointment.

If you already have in mind where and what to do, then you should print out the "Internship authorisation request" form (see attachment) (available in the student's forms) and ask for an interview with the Internship and Placement Contact Person of your Course of Study for the required authorisations

If you already have the signed authorisation you can go to the Internship and Job Placement Office

If you are to start your traineeship, a few days before starting, you must attend the Safety Course. To do this, you must: a) send an e-mail with the subject 'internship start-up' to prevsic@uniupo.it (indicating your course of study in the text) in order to receive instructions on how to carry out the two compulsory courses on safety in the workplace (General Course and Low Risk Course, both lasting 4 hours); b) If you have certificates from courses already held outside the University, you may enclose them and ask for their recognition for a possible total/partial exemption from the courses; c) Those who have already attended the above-mentioned courses (even of previous editions) and obtained the relevant certificates should disregard this communication, and should present the certificate when requested to do so.

Conduct of internship

All students in the Department can 'go on an internship' for up to 12 months during their course of study.

There are two types of internships:

Job-oriented internship (job placement): even if the course of study does not include a period of hours to be spent on an internship, one can - indeed, is invited - to take advantage of the internship opportunity anyway. In this case, a 'job-oriented internship' will take place.

Curricular internship: if your course of study includes, among the training activities, a period of hours to be spent on an internship, then this is referred to as an 'internship or curricular placement'. This, if consistent with the course of study you have followed, serves to verify and expand on certain topics covered theoretically in lectures and to guide your future professional choices. In that case the 'compulsory' hours will be deducted from the initial 12 months. The remaining period can be used for additional experience. Curricular traineeships are normally unpaid, but the activities carried out may have educational credit value and be included in your student and professional curriculum.

The internship/internship does not constitute an employment relationship.

The internship can be carried out at companies or organisations that already have an agreement with the Disum. It is possible to indicate to the Disum Internship Office new companies or organisations not yet affiliated with which one would like to carry out the internship. After checking the consistency of the internship with the course of study, the Office will enter into an agreement with these operators. 

When a new agreement is signed, between the University (Department) and the company, a training and guidance project drawn up by the promoting body must be attached. This project must indicate: the objectives and methods of the internship, the names of the tutors appointed by the promoting body (organisational tutor and scientific tutor) and of the company manager, insurance details, duration and period of the internship, and the company sector of placement.

To find out about all internship proposals, please consult NOTICE on our Disum website

You can also do your internship abroad: read the information on the University website