GUIDELINES
The internship is mandatory and corresponds to a workload of 300 hours (280 hours in the company + 20 hours for writing the portfolio and the report), equal to 12 CFU. You can do your internship in companies (or public authority, private organizations, cooperatives, associations) suggested by the Internship Coordinator of your degree programme, or you can find a company by yourself. As a future intern, you must contact the company at least one month before the beginning of the internship and then the company will have to stipulate an official agreement with Politecnico di Torino. The recognition of this agreement is a responsibility of the "Coordinamento Stage", who will verify if the company is suitable for all the scientific areas of the study plan and in line with the educational aims and professional profile. To start the internship, you must have already attended all your courses and earned at least 100 CFU. The time framework for the internship is, therefore, May/June, usually at the end of the 3rd academic year. However, if you have already attended all courses, you can do your internship in other periods of the academic year, after the approval of the committee in charge.
PROCEDURES FOR STARTING AND DOING THE INTERNSHIP
During the academic year, the Internship Committee organizes meetings with all the students (who are going to do an internship during the academic year), explains them the meaning of the internship in their academic and professional career, the modalities of accomplishment, the role of the people involved (in particular the Academic tutor and the Company tutor) and the occupational areas where the internship experience can be done. Subsequently, students can find the internship announcements in the Materials section of the student’s portal, with detailed information on the company and any additional information on specific internships.
NOTES FOR INTERNSHIP ABROAD
If you wish to do an internship abroad, it is advisable to do it earlier than the institutional period of the internship because the agreement procedures may take longer and it may be necessary to submit additional documentation (e.g. visa). You will have to check independently which documents are required according to the country where you want to do the internship. At the same time, for administrative procedures, you can refer to the "internships abroad" page. Moreover, in the case of internships in Europe, you can apply for the annual Call for Applications Erasmus + for Traineeship.
INTERNSHIP ALLOCATIONS
During the meeting for internship allocations, approximately ten days after the list of available companies is sent and one month before the actual start of the internship, students will be selected according to merit criteria (average grade, number of exams passed and number of years of enrolment in the programme) taking into account their personal preferences.Each student is assigned a score calculated by multiplying the number of credits of each exam by the grade obtained (ungraded exams are calculated with the average grade of the other graded exams). The sum of these products is divided by the number of semesters useful for examinations since the first matriculation. It should be noted that the credits earned during a mobility project (self-certified) will be given a grade out of 30 equal to the weighted average grade of the other exams registered in the student's transcript.
After the allocation of the internships, the Committee appoints an Academic Tutor for each internship, based on the preferences of each student and on the competencies of the teacher in the subject matter of to the internship. After this matching phase, the intern and the company carry out the introductory interview and the internet will get a definitive answer from the company regarding the possibility to start the internship. In case of a successful interview, the student needs to fill out the Training Project (Progetto Formativo) on the portal, which is mandatory for the beginning of the internship; the online procedure will send a notification for approval first to the company tutor and then to the academic tutor. In case of a negative interview, the student will have to contact the Internship Coordinator of the degree programme (tirocini.design@polito.it) and consult the list of possible new companies where he would like to go.
BEGINNING OF THE INTERNSHIP
After this phase, you need to fill out the online form on the Student Portal, called PROGETTO FORMATIVO (Training Project), which is a required procedure for the beginning of any internship. In the STAGE section of the training project, you will also have to fill out your timesheet.
SUPERVISION OF THE ACTIVITIES During the internship you or your academic tutor may organize meetings with the company tutor in order to verify the development and progress of the internship, the results achieved and any possible problems. In the event that you want to interrupt the Internship, you must immediately inform the “COORDINAMENTO STAGE (tirocini.design@polito.it)” and your Academic Tutor.
END OF THE INTERNSHIP AND REGISTRATION
At the end of the internship, in order to register your internship in your transcript and to gain the corresponding CFU, you must:- Fill the online form called "Questionario di Valutazione Finale" (you can find it in the timesheet section, or in the upload attachments section at the end of the internship);
- The company supervisor has to fill the online form called "Questionario Competenze Progetto Formativo." by clicking on the link that will be sent to him/her one week before the end of the internship;
- Write a final dissertation (report/portfolio) where you summarize and describe your activities; according to the format indicated below, and upload it online in the attachments section at the end of the Progetto Formativo (Training Project) (the section will be visible after you declare that you have filled out the timesheet);
- Upload online a copy of your timesheet (duly signed) to the attachments section at the end of the Progetto Formativo (Training Project).
BOOK/Portfolio and REPORT The BOOK (A4 landscape format) should describe the professional internship experience through the production of drawings/pictures/picture captions. A logbook or portfolio of the activities designed freely both in content and visual language. While protecting the privacy of the company/body/study, it is not as important to show and evaluate the work done as it is to show the activities in which you were involved and the skills you acquired, not forgetting that the project also consists of meetings with clients or in project teams, stages of research, but also process management issues. The document should become an item to be attached to your cv and professional portfolio. Instead, the REPORT should describe your internship period in text form by dividing it into the following paragraphs: - "Cover," with data and indication of where and when you did the internship;
- "Where," brief presentation of the company/body/study, describing (in min 500 characters) the core business and structure of the company that hosted the internship;
- "Activities performed", brief description (also in points) of the activities carried out during the internship (min 500 characters);
- "Tasks and duties", a brief account of the tasks and duties assigned, any equipment provided or use of own resources (min. 500 characters);
- "Knowledge", what skills and knowledge acquired in the degree course that you were able to apply during the internship (min. 500 characters);
- "What I learnt": what you learnt in this training period including both professional, methodological, practical activities, etc. but also behavioural and management activities (in min 500 characters).
During the academic year, the Internship Coordinator (Prof. Amina Pereno) periodically sets exams sessions (please check the section “Booking Exams” - you must book an appointment and show up in person) for the registration of the Internship in your transcript; you will fill in another survey.
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