Internships

The University of Parma promotes curricular internships in order to facilitate professional choices through direct knowledge of the world of work and the creation of moments of alternation between study and work.

Consequently, access to the final exam for the achievement of the three-year degree in Materials Science requires the completion of a curricular training internship, not to be understood as a premise for an employment relationship between the intern and the host structure nor as a replacement for company manpower or professional service.

The training internship (9 CFUs, 225 hours of work including research work, drafting of the thesis and preparation of the final exam) consists of an activity, generally experimental, carried out at the University of Parma (Internal Internship) or in an Organization/Company in Italy that has an agreement with the University of Parma (External Internship). Curricular training internships abroad are only permitted as components of an Erasmus experience. Erasmus students who have an Internship in their Learning Agreement carry out a Curricular Internship period lasting 225 hours (9 CFUs) at Companies or Institutions that have an agreement with the University of Parma.

REQUIREMENTS AND OBLIGATIONS
In order to access the internship, the Student must have obtained at least 138 CFUs, a limit that may be waived following a motivated request by the Company Tutor submitted to the Teaching Commission at the same time as the request to start the internship.
In any case, the curricular training internship is completed by a short technical-scientific paper (about 30 pages) that motivates, contextualizes, and summarizes the scientific work carried out. The internship activity must be interdisciplinary and focused on topics related to Materials Science.

PROCEDURE
The selection of the internship project is made by the student with different methods depending on whether it is an internal or external internship, as follows:
- INTERNAL INTERNSHIP: students select the activity from a list of proposals published at the link.
- EXTERNAL INTERNSHIP: in this case, students must identify an external institution available and affiliated with UNIPR.
The activity proposed by the external institution will be approved only if it has a training project compliant with the objectives set by the Teaching Regulations.

APPROVAL OF INTERNSHIP
In both internal and external internships, the Student must consult the supervisor of the activity (the person who will directly follow the Student's activity, who will be called "Company Tutor" regardless of whether it is an internal internship or external internship), and make sure:
- that the activity has not already been assigned;
- that the Company Tutor is willing to accept the Student under his/her supervision;
- the start and end times of the work that both parties expect.
After having agreed with the Company Tutor as above, the Student must forward at least 30 days before the expected start date of the activity, the "Internship Start Request" form to the President of the Teaching Commission, Prof. Cademartiri, via email, cc'ing the CU Internship Contact Person, Prof. Spoltore. The request, which briefly describes the training project, indicates the name of the Company Tutor and the expected start and end dates of the activity, must be accompanied by a certificate attesting the number of CFU obtained.
The President of the Teaching Commission will evaluate the request with the rest of the Teaching Commission and will inform the Student, the Company Tutor, as well as the CU-Sc.Mat., who must formally approve the request.

ACTIVATION OF THE INTERNSHIP
At this point, the “Company Contact” must request the University, via the ESSE3 platform, to activate the internship project.
a. In the case of an external internship, the Company Contact will be the employee identified by the specific agreement between the University and the external institution. As such, he/she will have access to the ESSE3 platform and will be authorized to submit requests for the activation of internships.
b. In the case of an internal internship, the Company Contact is Prof. Spoltore, authorized to request activation of internships at the University.
The Student will receive an email from the University confirming the activation, which will require the Student to indicate the Academic Tutor via the ESSE3 platform. In the absence of specific reasons highlighted by the Teaching Commission, Prof. Spoltore must be indicated as the Academic Tutor.

EXTENSION
In the event that it is necessary to extend the laboratory activities beyond the date initially communicated in the document "Internship Start Request", it is mandatory to communicate the new expected end date of the activity at least 15 days in advance, by writing an email to the President of the Teaching Commission, Prof. Cademartiri and cc'ing the Internship Contact of the CU, Prof. Spoltore.

INTERNSHIP CONCLUSION
At the end of the Internship activity, the Company Tutor must contact the Academic Tutor, who is responsible for assigning the CFU to the Student.
The closure of the Internship project will be subject to the evaluation, by the Academic Tutor, (i) of the conformity of the work carried out by the Student with the objectives set by the Teaching Regulations; (ii) after consultation with the Company Tutor and, in the case of an external internship, consultation of the "Internship Attendance Sheet" form countersigned by the Company Tutor, of the congruence of the number of hours of work carried out with the 9 CFU required.

INFORMATION
For everything you want to know about the internship, contact the contact person for the Degree Course in Materials Science: Prof. Ludovico Cademartiri; e-mail: ludovico.cademartiri@unipr.it - ​​Tel.: 0521 905257
For administrative information, contact the Servizio Tirocini Formativi, P.le S. Francesco, 3, Dott.ssa Roberta Donaera tel.: 0521 902930; e-mail: roberta.donaera@unipr.it 
Detailed information regarding the application procedure for the internship activity is contained in the “PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR STUDENTS” at the link:
https://www.unipr.it/servizi/servizi-lo-studio/tirocini-e-stage/tirocin…