Manual for Internship in a Danish Or Foreign Company

Manual for Internship in a Danish or Foreign Company

Professional Higher Education Programmes VU – Pb.a. WEB

Zealand Institute of Business and Technology Campus Roskilde

August 2012

Manual for Internship – ZIBAT, Campus Roskilde - 2012 CONTENTS

Manual for Internship – ZIBAT, Campus Roskilde - 2012 1 Introduction

This manual gives a general introduction to the internship in a company in Denmark or abroad in the professional higher education programmes at Zealand Institute of Business and Technology, Campus Roskilde

1.1 Professional higher education programmes at Zealand Institute of Business and Technology

Zealand Institute of Business and Technology is the fifth largest academy of professional higher education in Denmark. It is an organization with the overall responsibility for nine different campuses in Zealand region.

Zealand Institute of Business and Technology can offer professional academy, diploma and bachelor level programmes and covers almost 60 part- and fulltime programmes in Danish and English.

The Zealand Institute of Business and Technology is established professional job-oriented programmes more visible. Cooperation is one of the key values at Zealand Institute of Business and Technology. It involves both the students and the employees in the development, both when it comes to the everyday activities of the individual programmes and the framework for the future.

The student acquires various skills depending on their choice of electives. For details, please see the curriculum for the programme. It can be obtained by contacting the department or downloaded from www.rhs.dk.

2 Internship

The internship is an important part of the programme. It is placed in the last semester of the programme and will lasts three months (14 weeks), during which period the student is also expected to write his/her final examination project. The internship falls either in the period from 1 February to the beginning of June (for the spring semester) or in the period from 1 September to the middle of December (autumn semester), and in terms of time must be the equivalent of at least three months full-time work.

The internship is unpaid.

2.1 Aim

The aim of the internship is to:

 Give the student business competence in the programme’s subject areas  Ensure the intregration of theory and practice  Contribute to the student’s professional and personal development

Manual for Internship – ZIBAT, Campus Roskilde - 2012  Ensure coherence in the programme in that the student’s main project can be based on the company where the internship is spent.

Manual for Internship – ZIBAT, Campus Roskilde - 2012 Content of the internship:

Working hours must be agreed between the student and the company with the involvement of Zealand Institute of Business and Technology and Campus Roskilde

Before the start of the internship, the student and the company sign an internship contract, in which detailed terms are described.

The internship contract is submitted to the secretary at Campus Roskilde.

In the course of the first two weeks of the internship, the student and the company work out a plan for the period. The plan must be approved by the Zealand Institute of Business and Technology, Campus Roskilde. The plan should include:

 The company’s expectations of the student, including the criteria by which his/her work effort will be measured  The department(s) in the company the student will be attached to  Any planned business trips, trade fairs, etc., the student is to take part in  An outline of the student’s main work tasks  Any agreement on the connection between the internship and the final examination project.  An agreement on when and in what form the internship will be evaluated.

The plan is submitted to the programme secretary at Campus Roskilde.

3 The Company

3.1 Advantages for the company

The internship is an integrated and essential part of the education programme as a whole. The student will be able to contribute the following to the company:

 Highly motivated input and a fresh look at problems  Solutions to concrete work tasks formulated by the student in collaboration with the company  New ideas based on theory from the programme’s subject areas  Perhaps a solution to a larger work task formulated by the student in collaboration with the company and that can form the student’s final examination project.

Moreover, the company will have the opportunity to have an effect on the development of future business skills and perhaps spot a future key employee.

No salary expenses are involved in the internship. Expenses for transport, any accommodation and keep must be separately agreed between the company and the student, and stated in the internship contract.

Manual for Internship – ZIBAT, Campus Roskilde - 2012 3.2 The company’s contribution

The student has a considerable responsibility for making sure that the internship is beneficial for both parties. The student is expected to be active, hard-working and cooperative. So that both parties can get the best out of the internship, the company needs to:

 Be willing to “pass on” and communicate knowledge. The student must have access to the information needed to carry out the practical and theoretical work required in a satisfactory way. Naturally, this does not apply to confidential information.

 Allow the student to take part in selected meetings, whether as active participant or as observer. These could be internal meetings, or meetings with customers, advertising agencies, etc., so that the student gains insight into some of the decision- making processes in the company

 Make sure that the student has a contact person in the company who can function as sparring partner for the student in the planning and carrying out of the internship, and who can be the Zealand Institute of Business and Technology, Campus Roskilde’s contact to the company.

 Be willing to formulate the problem for the student’s final examination project (dissertation). The aim of this project is that the student should demonstrate an ability to work on a complex problem for a concrete project. The project should be based on the main content of the programme’s subject areas.

The company is not obliged to give theoretical or methodological guidance in connection with projects or reports the student has to complete in the course of the internship period.

The company is expected to motivate and activate the student. The Zealand Institute for Business and Technology, Campus Roskilde emphasises that it is the student’s responsibility to benefit from the internship, but in practice both the company and the student will contribute to this.

Manual for Internship – ZIBAT, Campus Roskilde - 2012 4 The Student

4.1 Practical experience

Students come from a variety of backgrounds when they start in the Professional higher education programmes.

Some students have practical work experience, others have a more theoretical background, and in some cases they have both.

4.2 Professional and theoretical skills at the start of the internship

The internship is placed in the programme’s last semester, when the student also prepares his/her final examination project.

Should the company require a deeper and more extensive knowledge of the subject areas of the programmes, subject descriptions and curricula can be requested from Zealand Institute for Business and Technology, Campus Roskilde or can be seen at www.rhs.dk.

4.3 The kind of work the student will be able to carry out or help with in the internship

The purpose of the internship is that the student should gain insight into the subject areas of the programmes via a practical and concrete approach. Moreover, of course, the student can take part in the concrete practical work that takes place in the company during the internship.

Naturally, the student has the same obligation to observe the rules about confidentiality during his/her internship, as an employee of the company. Reports and projects prepared by the student for the company can be made confidential by stating this on the front page of the project report.

4.4 Evaluation of the internship

Immediately after the end of the internship, the student prepares a synopsis based on the period, in which the student reflects on what he/she has got out of it. The synopsis must include expectations, reflections and literature read, and it must put the period’s benefits into perspective (cf. Appendix 1). The synopsis will be judged as either passed or failed, and this will appear on the student’s final diploma.

The synopsis is submitted to the programme secretary at Campus Roskilde.

Manual for Internship – ZIBAT, Campus Roskilde - 2012

4.5 Guidance of the student during the internship

During the course of the internship, both the student and the company can ask for guidance from the student counsellor. If possible, the student counsellor or the student’s dissertation supervisor will visit the company during the internship.

5 Contact people at Campus Roskilde

For further information, please contact:

Zealand Institute of Business and Technology Campus Roskilde Bakkesvinget 67 4000 Roskilde

Students:

Student Counsellors, Campus Roskilde: Birgit Munkvad Christina Bjerre Tlf.: + 45 5076 2655 Tlf.: +45 5076 2656 e-mail: [email protected] e-amil: [email protected]

Progamme Secretary, Campus Roskilde: Jette Bech Tlf.: + 45 5076 2659 (direkte) e-mail: [email protected]

Companies:

Internship Coordinator, Campus Roskilde: Lars Kofod Tlf.: +45 5076 2662 e-mail: [email protected]

Manual for Internship – ZIBAT, Campus Roskilde - 2012 Appendix 1

Internship synopsis

In connection with your internship you must write a synopsis in which you briefly describe and assess the contents of your internship. The purposes of writing a synopsis are mainly:

1) To evaluate your internship, i.e. reflect on what you have learned and capture it by putting it down on paper 2) To document to the school that your internship was active and relevant to the study.

1) What should the synopsis include?

Scope: Max. 8 pages of 2000 characters (symbols) excluding spaces, the title page, appendices and bibliography

Content: A title page with name, class and a title.

A description of the tasks you have carried out in relation to the functions of the department. If you have worked with one major task and several minor ad hoc tasks at the same time, concentrate on the major task in the synopsis. It is important to present the problem and subsequent results.

A chronological description of your activities during the internship, i.e. the tasks you have carried out, how you have planned the tasks, how they were carried out or maybe why they could not be carried out. Include any meetings you have participated in, the purpose of these meetings and your role in this connection. Include any courses you have taken and the purpose of these.

Conclusions on a major assignment, subjects you have worked with etc.

Practical experience: what has this internship taught you? What inspired you? What was good; what was bad? Why did it proceed the way it did?

Perspectives: has it influenced your dissertation, career development or other professional aspects? Explain what and why?

Bibliography: the literature you have read in your internship.

Appendices: Relevant appendices – in this connection relevant means something you have produced during your internship. If you have carried out a major market analysis, you can include an executive summary or your conclusion.

Manual for Internship – ZIBAT, Campus Roskilde - 2011 9 Make sure that all relevant subjects, methods and tools, partial conclusions, main conclusions and experience are included in your synopsis and please exclude irrelevant information.

2) Hand-in and evaluation of the synopsis

Please hand in two copies of the synopsis to the study secretaries. The synopsis will be judged as either passed or failed by an internal examiner. If you do not pass the first time, you may revise the synopsis. The evaluation criteria are:

 your ability to give an account of your internship and include relevant aspects

 your argumentation of what is relevant and thus included

 your ability to describe, structure, assess and generalise your experience

 your ability to combine praxis and theory, i.e. how you relate practical experience to the theoretical tools learned during your studies.

Normally, your dissertation supervisor will evaluate your synopsis and give you feedback within two weeks.

Manual for Internship – ZIBAT, Campus Roskilde - 2011 10