The curricular internship is an educational and training experience that a student carries out to enhance practical and/or professional skills and abilities in an external institution/company with which the University has a formal collaboration agreement.

A number of university credits (it: CFU, Eng: ECTS) is recognized for the internship when included in the study plan (curricular internship), that varies depending on the study program.

The curricular internship has the aim "to create the alternation between study and work in the context of training processes and to facilitate professional choices through the direct knowledge of the world of work" (art. 1 Ministerial Decree 142/98).

The curricular internship has different purposes depending on the player and corresponding point of view, in particular:

• the student:
  1. to deepen, verify and widen the knowledge acquired from the courses/modules of the degree course;
     1. to enhance specific professional interests, by allowing the direct contact with the world of work
• the University:
  1. to verify the alignment between the educational paths of the degree courses and the potential professional outlets to which students aspire or have interest to.
• the company:
  1. it is an opportunity to:
     • exchange with young people having an up-to-date scientific knowledge;
     • train "young talents" to be included in its workforce on a fixed-term or permanent basis, based on the internship performances. 

The internship does not constitute an employment relationship and it is developed as the result of the interest of the student in the discipline/sector in which operates, the availability of an internship tutor teacher (university teacher) that will identify and plan the training activity to be carried out, and the availability of an external institution or company that hosts the student and related tutor. The relationship between the University and the company/institution has to be formalized through an official agreement prior the start of the internship.

The external institution (e.g. company, research centre, university, organisation) could be located in Italy, in an European country or in an extra-EU country.

Independently on the place where it will be carried out, the internship requires the preparation of a Training Project jointly developed by the student, the internship tutor teacher and the external tutor (member of a company or external institution), the performance of the training activity for at least 100 hours and the writing of a report which should be approved and signed by the tutor teacher and forwarded to the coordinator of the course for final approval.

To activate a curricular internship outside the University of Teramo, the external institution (e.g. university, research centre, non-governmental organisation, company, etc.) hosting the student must have an active agreement with the Department of Bioscience and Technology for Food Agriculture and Environment.

The list of the current active agreements is available in the section in the right side of this webpage (“elenco convenzioni”). If the entity of interest is not yet included in the list, it is possible to enter into an agreement (see template available in the side section).

The agreement must be completed with the data and information of the external organization, printed, and signed by its legal representative.

Thereafter, the external institution has to deliver the agreement to the Department Secretariat for the final signature by the Head of the Department as follows:

1. via by certified mail (“PEC”) as electronic file to the following address: spresagr@pec.unite.it, signed with a digital signature;
2. by regular mail (Segreteria del Dipartimento di Bioscienze e Tecnologie Agro-Alimentari e Ambientali, Plesso S. Spaventa, Via R. Balzarini 1, 64100 Teramo) signed and printed in n. 2 original copies;
3. by hand to the Department Secretariat (same address), signed and stamped in two original copies 

A copy of the definitive agreement, signed by the Head of the Department, will then be sent by the Department Secretariat via certified email (“PEC”) to the host institution.

Once the agreement has been entered into force, to activate the curricular internship the student has to proceed according to the following steps

• download and fill in the “Training Project” form (available in the side section); the content has to be agreed according to both the contact person of the host organization (company tutor) and the internship tutor teacher; the form must be duly completed and signed in all its parts.
•  at least 20 days before the scheduled start date of the internship, the fully completed Training Project document (as pdf file) must be sent to the Department Secretariat by email to the following address: direzionebioscienze@unite.it from the student's institutional mailbox. The Department Secretariat is in charge of sending a copy of the training project and the declaration template to host the student under safe rules to the email address of the host institution, the internship tutor teacher and the student.
• The Department Secretariat will send to the student the register/log book of the training activities by email.

Please Note: the student has to send the documents by e-mail using  the institutional email address (name.surname@studenti.unite.it); if this is not possible, the student could use an alternative account including a scanned identification document (identity card, passport), and writing in the “subject” of the email the following title: INTERNSHIP DOCUMENTS: SURNAME NAME (Student ID NUMBER).

The internship could be carried out also in the framework of Professional/ Entrepreneurship-oriented training projects (e.g. Reversed Incubator, Contamination Lab, etc.) that imply the close collaboration between the University-Department and the companies. On yearly basis, calls are open by the study program (e.g. the Int. Master Degree in Food Science and Technology for the Reversed Incubator).

The student has initially to apply to the Professional/Entrepreneurship training project and be accepted according to the specific rules. In general, these projects require the identification of an internal teacher tutor and of an external tutor of a company that is equally partner of the specific project.

Thereafter, the same project could be approved as “a curricular internship” by following the procedure here below described: 

• download and fill the “Training Project” form (available in the side section), by including the contents (title, activities) and the internal and external teacher tutors according to the project approved by the Professional/Entrepreneurship training project; the form must be drawn up in all its parts and duly signed by the student and the internal teacher tutor;
• as soon as possible, the Training Project document (as pdf file) must be sent to the Department Secretariat, by email, to the following address: direzionebioscienze@unite.it from the student's institutional mailbox.
• The Department Secretariat will send a copy of the Training Project to the internal tutor and the student. The register/log book of training activities will be also sent to the student by email. 

Please note: the student that activate the curricular internship in collaboration with external companies within a Professional/Entrepreneurship training project initiative and needs to have access to the University labs, must request also the activation of the badge for entry to the laboratories. To this aim, a different procedure must be followed and more information is provided by the Internship tutor teacher.

The curricular internship could be carried out also during the mobility carried out within the framework of Erasmus+ ‘Student Mobility for Traineeship’ projects or other international mobility frameworks initiatives.

In this case the student has initially to apply for the specific ‘Erasmus Student Mobility for Traineeship’ call (or any other international mobility project) and get the official approval. This project aims to gives financial support to student’s mobility of short term (ca. 2 months) in an external institution/company in a foreign EU or extra-EU country. In general, according to the rules, the acceptance and financial support for the mobility for traineeship requires the filling in of a “Learning agreement for traineeship” that includes the activities/project of training period the signature of the teacher tutor at the University and that of the external institution/company (hosting organization). More information is provided within the specific call and by the International Relations Office.

The same training project carried out within the Erasmus/International student mobility for traineeship could be used and approved for acquiring CFU/ECTS as “curricular internship”.

To this aim, the student has to send the signed and approved Learning Agreement to the Department secretariat and the M.Sc. course coordinator before the just after the approval by the International Relations Office. Also in this case, the student has to send the documents by e-mail using the institutional email address as above reported.

During the curricular internship the student has continuously record the activities according to the time schedule in the register/log book and eventually collect the signatures.

At the end of the internship, the student has to scan the duly filled in and signed register and sent it in .pdf format to direzionebioscienze@unite.it, from his/her institutional e-mail address (name.surname@studenti.unite.it); if not possible, the student could send the same document in an attachment to an alternative account/e e-mail address adding an identification document.

In both cases, the e-mail must report in the “subject” the following text: INTERNSHIP REGISTER: Surname, First name, ID student number, Course of study".

Please note: the internship register must be duly completed and in the case of internships carried out in external structures, the signature of the company tutor must be included.

The minimum duration of the curricular internship for students of the Int. Master Degree in Food Science and Technology (LM-70): 150 hours (= 4 CFU/ECTS).

It is possible to request an extension of the internship by the end of the originally envisaged end date, specifying the specific reasons. Internship usually have a maximum duration of no more than 12 (twelve) months.

For the students in Erasmus/international mobility, the extension has to be preliminarily agreed by the International Relations Office, which will allow/not allow the extension based on funds availability and the agreement of the external institution/company, and managed following the rules of the Erasmus program/international mobility. 

Additional information on the curricular internship for students of the Int. Master Degree in Food Science and Technology (LM-70):

https://www.unite.it/UniTE/Corso_di_Laurea_Magistrale_in_Scienze_e_Tecnologie_AlimentariFood_Science_and_Technology_-_Altre_attivita