Internships
Organization of internships
The internship carried out during the studies on the practical profile is one of the most important elements of the curriculum. It provides an important complement and development of the theoretical and practical content discussed in classes. During internship in selected organisations, students develop their knowledge, skills and social competences with regard to specific problems and issues faced by organisations.
Internship is also an important asset on the labour market when graduates are looking for their first job. Through such apprenticeship, graduates are better prepared for future work.
Its objectives include:
- practical preparation for the profession, including the ability to apply the knowledge acquired in a professional capacity
- formation of skills necessary for future professional work, including, i.a.: analytical skills, organisational skills
- working in a team, establishing contacts, conducting negotiations, as well as preparing the student to be independent and responsible for entrusted tasks,
- acquainting the Students with the specificity of the professional environment, the principles of operation of economic and social entities, governmental and local government bodies and other organisational units in the economic and social life, deepening knowledge of individual branches of the economy,
- acquaintance with the technique of keeping records at individual workstations,
- learning about the principles of work organisation, organisational structures, division of competences,
- gaining experience, knowledge of the labour market and the skills required at work, as well as self-assessment of the Student's skills in order to increase their ability to compete effectively in the labour market,
- creating conditions for professional activation of Students in the labour market.
An additional purpose of the apprenticeship may be to collect materials and data useful for the implementation of the objectives of a research work, including an undergraduate/engineering or master's thesis.
How many hours should I complete as part of my internship?
The duration of student professional internships is as follows:
- For first-cycle studies and long-cycle master’s studies: 6 months, with no fewer than 960 teaching hours (720 clock hours) and 33 ECTS credits (depending on the programme).
- For second-cycle studies: 3 months, with no fewer than 480 teaching hours (360 clock hours) and 16 ECTS credits.
- The detailed number of hours, rules and form of completing internships, the total number of ECTS credits, as well as the intended learning outcomes that the student must achieve as part of their completion, are specified in the study programme for a given field of study and in the professional internship syllabus.
Postgraduate students are required to complete pedagogical internships in the following scope:
- 150 hours for postgraduate students completing programmes that provide psychological, pedagogical and didactic preparation for graduates who already have subject-specific preparation to teach a subject/conduct classes;
- Graduates of psychology who complete postgraduate studies in pedagogical preparation must complete 120 hours of student professional internships;
- 90 hours for students obtaining qualifications to teach an additional subject/conduct classes;
- 120 hours for postgraduate students completing programmes in preparation in the field of special education for persons who already have preparation to work as teachers, and for students obtaining qualifications to work as teacher-psychologists;
- 50 hours for postgraduate students in psycho-oncology, in accordance with the course syllabus.
The internship may be completed in several places, which means that the above number of hours may be completed in more than one institution.
How and when should the internship be started?
1. Persons with student/postgraduate student status complete and receive credit for the internship in the semester specified in the applicable study plan.
2. To start a professional internship, the student/postgraduate student must add the internship in the CloudA system: Studies/Internships, by completing the application form and entering all required information, including the place of internship, number of teaching hours, start date, end date, tasks to be performed by the student, and details of the internship supervisor.
3. An internship that has not been entered into the CloudA system will not be credited. The internship must be entered into the system at least 1 month before the planned start date.
4. The student/postgraduate student is accepted for the internship on the basis of a referral (to an entity with which WSB-NLU has concluded an appropriate agreement on the organisation of student professional internships) or an individual agreement with an employer selected by the student, for example the company where the student is currently employed.
5. Previous professional experience does not constitute grounds for crediting the internship. Crediting the internship as part of professional work is possible provided that the work is performed in the semester in which the study plan provides for the professional internship, and provided that the expected learning outcomes are achieved as part of the duties performed.
6. As part of recognising currently performed professional activity, the following may be credited to the student/postgraduate student:
- work performed under an employment relationship;
- work performed under a civil-law contract;
- self-employment/business activity;
- internships and professional placements in domestic or foreign enterprises based on an internship agreement, for example through the Labour Office, PFRON, or public administration organisations, currently carried out by students or postgraduate students, ensuring the acquisition of appropriate practical skills, provided that the type of activity or work corresponds to the purpose of the professional internship and ensures the implementation of the established internship programme.
7. In the field of Psychology, it is important that, as part of their professional work, the student cooperates with a qualified psychologist who will confirm their involvement in acquiring psychological knowledge.
8. In the case of self-employed persons conducting sole proprietorship, in addition to the completed form, a printout from the Central Register and Information on Business Activity or information obtained from the Central Information of the National Court Register, as well as references for this activity, must be uploaded to CloudA. In the section for the supervisor’s details, the name of the university supervisor for the relevant field of study should be entered: Management - Prof. WSB-NLU Maria Sidor, Computer Science - Katarzyna Homoncik, MSc Eng. The final verification of internships is carried out by a special team.
9. Completion of the internship is a condition for completing the studies and being admitted to the defence of the diploma project/thesis.
10. A professional internship completed by the student/postgraduate student as a student or graduate of another higher education institution, which meets the syllabus requirements for a given field of study, may constitute grounds for recognising the completion of professional internships as part of studies at WSB-NLU. The decision on recognition is made by the relevant committee.
What documents are necessary for the internship?
A student/postgraduate student independently applies for the documents they will need in order to start the internship. The student/postgraduate student selects one of the following options:
- a referral for the internship together with an agreement on the organisation of internships, or
- an agreement on the organisation of the internship.
Wyższa Szkoła Biznesu requires students/postgraduate students to submit all documents related to the course of the internship (referral and agreement or contract, report generated from the system) online. This means that documents confirming completion of the internship will not be accepted in paper form. They must be submitted by uploading scans of the required documentation to the CloudA system.
Where to do an internship?
- In the fields of Management and Computer Science, students may complete their internship in Polish and foreign enterprises with which the University has signed agreements on professional internships, as well as in enterprises proposed independently by students, under the terms specified in the Professional Internship Regulations and accepted by the professional internship supervisor.
- Additionally, in the field of Psychology, the necessary condition that must be met by the institution accepting a student for an internship is that the institution employs or cooperates with a qualified psychologist who will provide substantive supervision over the student completing the internship.
- Students of Psychology may complete professional internships, among others, in the following institutions:
- Primary and secondary schools,
- Kindergartens,
- Psychological and pedagogical counselling centres,
- County Family Support Centres or Social Welfare Centres, Adoption Centres,
- Private and public psychological offices,
- Hospitals, including psychiatric care wards,
- Foundations and associations,
- Hospices, neurological rehabilitation centres,
- Training companies,
- Occupational therapy workshops and associations working for persons with disabilities.
Professional internships - postgraduate studies
Pedagogical internships in postgraduate studies in the field of:
- Preparation for the teaching profession - must be completed in the institutions listed below:
- 120 hours of internship in didactic preparation: institutions of the education system providing support to pupils, parents, guardians and teachers, e.g. kindergartens and primary schools or educational and upbringing institutions, as well as secondary schools;
- 30 hours of internship in psychological and pedagogical preparation: psychological and pedagogical counselling centres, including non-public ones.
2.Preparation for teaching an additional subject/conducting classes - must be completed in the institutions listed below:
- 90 hours of internship in didactic preparation: institutions of the education system providing support to pupils, parents, guardians and teachers, e.g. kindergartens and primary schools or educational and upbringing institutions, as well as secondary schools.
3. Preparation in the field of special education (in the area of disability covered by the studies: oligophrenopedagogy, typhlopedagogy) - 180 hours of internship must be completed in kindergartens, schools and institutions of the education system where the qualifications required to hold the position of teacher are specified in regulations issued pursuant to Article 9(2) of the Act of 26 January 1982 - the Teachers’ Charter, in particular in special schools and special classes, i.e. in the following types of schools/institutions from those listed below:
- mainstream kindergarten - in integration classes and special classes;
- integration kindergarten, special kindergarten;
- mainstream primary school:
-in integration classes,
-in therapeutic classes,
-іn special classes;
- special primary school;
- special lower secondary school, special upper secondary school;
- special education and upbringing centre;
- special upbringing centre;
- special school preparing students for work for pupils with a disability appropriate to the scope of the postgraduate studies undertaken by the student, or with multiple disabilities;
- centre enabling children and young people with a disability appropriate to the scope of the postgraduate studies undertaken by the student, or with multiple disabilities, to fulfil compulsory one-year preschool preparation, compulsory schooling and compulsory education;
- psychological and pedagogical counselling centre;
- therapeutic day-care centres.
The student/postgraduate student independently chooses the place where the professional internship will be completed.
The University has agreements with several institutions; therefore, if assistance is needed in organising an internship place, the student/postgraduate student may ask the internship supervisor for the given field of study for help: Management - Dr Maria Sidor, Prof. WSB-NLU; Computer Science - Katarzyna Homoncik, MSc Eng.; Psychology - Maria Wiśniewska, MA; Postgraduate Studies - Anna Świerad, MA.
I have an internship placement and what next?
- After the internship has been entered into the CloudA system: Studies/Internships, the substantive supervisor for the given field of study conducts an initial verification. If the internship is accepted, the student/postgraduate student receives information that the internship has been positively verified and that the University is preparing the necessary documents.
- At the request of the student/postgraduate student, the University issues: a referral for the internship together with an agreement on the organisation of the professional internship, or an agreement on the completion of the internship. The documents may be collected at the WSB-NLU Dean’s Office after prior notification, or they will be sent by post to the student’s/postgraduate student’s correspondence address.
- The basis for crediting the internship is uploading scans of all the previously mentioned documents to CloudA (referral/agreement or contract) and submitting the internship report, which must be generated in the CloudA system and completed. In this report, the student/postgraduate student enters the tasks and activities actually performed. All documents submitted to the system should be saved in PDF format, with the file name corresponding to the name of the printed document.
- The entity where the internship was completed confirms the completion of the internship on the report with a signature and a named stamp (company stamp), and issues an opinion on the intern in the form of an assessment of the course of the student professional internship. These assessments are generated on the second page of the report.
- In the field of Psychology, the condition for crediting the internship is the submission by the intern of an internship report completed and approved by the internship supervisor at the organising entity and by the head of the school/institution, bearing the signature and stamp of the internship supervisor - a qualified psychologist - together with the internship assessment. If no stamp is available, a written statement from the head of the institution or from the supervisor is sufficient.
- Internships are credited by the substantive internship supervisor for the given field of study on behalf of WSB-NLU. All matters related to the completion of professional internships must be agreed upon and approved by the substantive supervisor.
- If the supervisor has doubts as to whether the student has achieved the expected learning outcomes, the decision on crediting the professional internship will be made by the relevant assessment team. The team is responsible for verifying whether, as part of the completed professional internship, the student/postgraduate student has achieved the learning outcomes specified in the study programme.The verification of learning outcomes is carried out depending on the nature of the declared learning outcomes subject to verification, as selected by the team - jointly or separately for each confirmed learning outcome - in particular in the form of an oral examination, written examination, test, task solution, presentation, etc. Depending on the field of study, the team conducts an oral examination based on a presentation prepared by the student/postgraduate student concerning the scope of duties performed. The team may also determine how the student should supplement any missing competences and verify them.
- Failure to complete the compulsory internship is equivalent to failing the semester.
Brief instructions for adding an internship in CloudA (Internships tab)
- Read the Internship Regulations (Useful Links section).
- Complete the required fields in the internship application form (Add internship button on the left-hand side). Remember that the internship should be related to your field of study.
- Wait for the internship to be verified.
- The Dean’s Office will send you the documents signed by the University that you selected in the final step of adding the internship (referral/agreement or contract).
- Complete the missing details in the documents received.
- Obtain all required signatures on the documents from the selected institution.
- Before starting the internship, upload scans of the documents signed by the institution to the CloudA system (agreement and internship referral or contract).
- After completing the internship, fill in the report in CloudA and save it, but do not finish the internship yet.
4. Print the report, collect the required signatures, and then upload its scan to the CloudA system.
5. Submit the internship for verification (Finish button) and wait for its approval by the WSB-NLU internship supervisor or for information about a meeting with the Committee for the Confirmation of Learning Outcomes.
In case of any problems or questions, please contact the Dean’s Office: +48 18 44 99 148, dziekanat@wsb-nlu.edu.pl.