GUIDES TO THE UNIVERSITY

All Master of Science programs include an internship/apprenticeship/training (from now internship) or similar activity in the program requirements, classified as compulsory educational activities. Internships are worth from 6 to 10 credit points depending on the program structure of the MSc Program (see Program Structure of MSc Programs).

It is possible to participate in other internship experiences, during your studies or after graduation,  which do not have curricular value and for which the information in the paragraphs and sections is not applied:  Duration, "Positioning", Recognition, "Approval and validation of internships", "Other activities recognized in lieu of internships".

Curricular internships must satisfy the following characteristics with reference to duration, objectives and contents, location and positioning.

Duration
Minimum 12 full-time weeks, in Italy;
Minimum 10 full-time weeks, abroad.

The number of weeks must be understood as continuous and non-cumulative, in agreement with the University a period of temporary suspension of the internship experience (such as closing of the company, national holiday) to be recovered at the end of the internship if it affects the minimum duration of the internship.

In particular circumstances, subject to the prior approval from the Master of Science Program Director, a part-time internship could be considered an option. However, it must last at least 16 weeks in Italy or abroad.

Objectives and contents
The main objective of internships is to educate. They allow students to acquire work  and professional experience while developing professional skills. They help students get their bearings in these areas, facilitating their professional choices. Students acquire  direct knowledge of the continuously evolving world of work. The  contents of the internship must be consistent with the educational objectives of the student's MSc program.  

Location
Internships may take place - in Italy and abroad - in firms, public and private institutions, professional studios, international organisms, diplomatic agencies, cultural institutions and other organizations.
Internships held on the premises of the participant's family property are not accepted.

Positioning
Students may participate in internships during their second year.
Students may participate in an internship only after completing first-year courses.
Internshipis registered in students' academic careers as a second-year educational activity. However it is possible, as an exception, to participate in an  internship in advance:

• in the first year, following the normal authorization and validation procedures which are described below; however, internship activities must not clash with classroom activities;
• before enrolment in MSc programs but after the undergraduate degree; in this case there are various authorization and validation procedures (see Approval and validation of internships)

In both cases, the internship will be registered in the student's academic career as a first-year educational activity.

In addition to what has already been said in terms of its characteristics, an internship is an experience which offers in-the-field training, whose regulations are valid in Italy, and are set by law (24 June 1997 no. 196 art. 18 and the decree of 25 March 1998, no. 142 and Interdepartmental Decree of 22 March 2006 Official Journal no. 159 of 11 July 2006) and by the University.  As an internship is not a labour contract by law, internships are not paid. At their discretion, companies can grant a monetary contribution that would go towards a student's studies. Scholarships to carry out internships are also provided (see "Contributions for internships in Italy and abroad/Contributions for internship in the European Union").

Finding internships
Università Bocconi recognizes internships organized by any of the following parties:

• Markets and External Affairs Division
• MSc Program Direction
• Students can also find internships via their own channels. In this case, the Master of Science Program Director will carefully monitor the internship request. In addition, students must contact the Internship Office well in advance and always before starting the internship.  

  If the company has never cooperated with the University the student reporting must be at least 20 days before the start of the internship by following the indications on the web pages.

Markets and External Affairs Division promotes and makes available the internship opportunities in Italy and abroad through:

• JobGate:  a platform which is updated daily with internship and work opportunities reserved to Bocconi students;
• International Internship Programs in companies, Chamber of Commerce, foreign Consulates in Milan, International Institutions, non-government organizations, Italian Permanent Representatives abroad;
• Arts and Culture Internationl Program: a program offering internship opportunities at cultural institutions;
• Speciale Stage Curriculari (Curricular Internship Magazine) : magazine published every six months including internship opportunities offered by companies which adhere to the Programmi Partner e Imprese Associate of the University
• Bocconi & Jobs, the University's semi-annual career fair which allows Bocconi students to meet with numerous companies and institutions from all sectors;
• Company presentations in the University: companies present themselves and describe their programs for hiring potential candidates; the calendar for presentations is fixed every six months;
• Placement Library: the Career Service's library dedicated to the world of work. Students can organize the search and retrieval of information which is useful for finding internships and jobs.
  
  

Internship formalization
Whatever channel is used to find an internship, the host company or organization in Italy and Bocconi sign an agreement and a training project on the objectives and contents of the training period. As the promoter of the initiative, the University prepares all the necessary legal documentation, checks the quality of the training projects, and provides insurance coverage.

Internships abroad, if they are not run by internship agreement and a relating training project, can be run by a working or internship contract stipulated with the company or by other documentation ruling practice educational experience according with the local laws where the experience is held.

Internships which are not provided with such documentation cannot be recognised for the awarding of credit points in no way.

It is therefore necessary for the student to contact the Internship Office well in advance than the internship start.

The Service will contact the student to agree upon a date for the participation in the Gruppo Stage (Internship Group), a preparatory meeting for the internship experience.

Internship recognition
All internship experiences must be previously approved in order to ensure their consistency and coherence with the ducational path carried out by the students.

At the end of the internship such experience is validated in order to obtain academic recognition.

In order to obtain the recognition of the internship and the relating credit points it is necessary to follow the steps described in this paragraph.

Authorization in advance

Before the internship students must request and obtain, via email, the approval in advance by the Master of Science Program Director or his delegate. The request must include: duration of the internship, description of the activity carried out, tasks, educational objective. Requests to the professors must be sent exclusively from Bocconi email account. Answers from the MSc Program Director (that must be made in written form only) along with student's request must be forwarded to:  infostagebienni@unibocconi.it. The authorization is a compulsory requirement to start the curricular internship.
Only for curricular internships of Master of Science in Management  where the internships are carried out in companies, institutions, professional studios already in contact with the University and found by students through the JobGate the office responsible for authorization is  the Internship Office.

The Management MSc Program Director has still the responsability to authorize:

• internships of personal initiative
• internships carried out after the undergraduate degree and before the enrolment finalization to the MSc Program
• activities similar to the internship (qualified working experience, field projects and so on).

The Management MSc Program Director is also responsible for the final validation of all the internships.  

If the internship is carried out before the enrolment finalization to the MSc programs and after the undergraduate degree students may request authorization to have the experience recognized as a Master of Science curricular internshipby the end of the first semester of the first year of studies. Once the approval is obtained, students can apply for the effective validation only when they have opted for this experience and not for the others and when this has been communicated to the Internship Office by the graduation deadline for the completion of the exams.

Final validation

At the end of the internship students:

• hand in the end-of internship documentation 

  - print of  the evaluation form by the trainee

  - print of the email of the authorization in advance by the Program Director

  - end of internship certitication issued by the company.

  The evaluation form of the company tutor is printed at the Front Desk - Internship Office at the time of submission of all documents above.

• The Internship Office will submit the recognition form to the student to be given, together with the end-of-internship forms, to the Master of Science Program Director. The authorization form must be signed by the professor and returned to the Internship Office for the final validation of the internship experience andto record it in the student’s academic career.

  
  

Registration of the credit points: the internship must be recorded in the student's academic career by the deadline for the completion of all the exams provided for in the program structure for the graduation session. Generally, the internship must have been finished by that date.

Any uncompleted internships which have satisfied the minimum duration of time indicated above will still be recognized and can be registered in the student's academic career only if the the student must graduate before the end of the internship. In this case, the end of internship documents must be completed within the time needed to record the internship in the student's academic career.

Withdrawal/Interruption

Withdrawal/interruption of the internship is possible for serious and/or certified reasons. If there is no serious/certified reasons, there will be limitations for accessing to a new internship (the new internship cannot start until one month from the date of interruption of the previous internship). It must communicated urgently to the Internship Office.

Contributions for internships in Italy and abroad
For students taking part in internships offered by public authorities in Italy, or through international organizations, institutions, authorities and companies abroad for which no compensation is provided, contributions are available from Università Bocconi: for allocation criteria and application forms see the ISU Download Area.

Contributions for internships in the European Union
Scholariships of the LLP/Erasmus Student Placement program are available only for  internships in the European Union in companies and research and training centers, Italian Chambers of Commerce Abroad and some International Organizations located in one of the countries participating in the Program lasting minimum three months and with curricular worth.  Further information is available on http://www.ir.unibocconi.eu/  and http://www.cs.unibocconi.eu/. The scholarships are not cumulative with contributions indicated in the preceding title.

Though internships remain the main educational activity aimed at facilitating professional choices, other activities known as "similar activities" are permitted in lieu of the internships.  These include:

• qualified work experiences, with contracts different from those of internships, such as temporary or permanent work, apprenticeship, traineeships, and limited-time work contracts ("lavoro a progetto"). These are subject to the same rules (duration, positioning, eligibility) as internships.
  To have the activity recognized and the credits assigned, students must forward via email tpo the Internship Office, at least one month before the graduation deadline for the completion of the exams, a scanned copy of the contract  hand in to the Internship Office a copy of the contract stipulated with the company along with contacts of the company person's of reference and a short report from the student containing information on the nature and duration of the activity.   This is needed to prepare the authorization and final validation form for the Program Director's signature. This is to be handed in to the Internship Office and recorded in the student's academic career.  

  The request for validation of such experiences in the student’s academic career can be done, just like the curricular internships, no later than six months after their conclusion.

• in-the-field projects (administered by MSc Direction. These projects are promoted by a teacher and approved by the MSc Program Director following specific agreements with a company, an institution or professional office.
  They must include the following activities: in-class: classroom activities guided by the professor (methodological tools), presentations from professionals in their field (e.g., applications of methodological tools). These classroom activities are not part of the educational activities which are included in the program requirements;in-the-field activities monitored by professionals in the field and by a teacher: case analyses, formulation and presentation of the work (group or individual) to outside professionals in the field and to a teacher.

Since internships must last 10-12 weeks (about 400-480 work hours), the activities mentioned above are structured to meet the same criteria in terms of hours and/or workload. In this way the field project is equivalent to the internship.
The majority of hours must be dedicated to in-the-field activities.
Recognition takes  place considering  a list of participants provided to the Internship Office by the Program Director or his/her delegate, along with the approval and validation form which must be signed by the Program Director and to be returned to the Internship Office along with the other end of internship forms in order to have the internshipregistered in the student's academic career. The Laboratorio di moda e design  (Fashion and design workshop), code 20308 (Prof. S. Testa) is a "field project" which is offered to:

• Management choosing the Management of Fashion & Design Major
• ACME students choosing the following courses/workshops: 20237 (former 8344) MANAGEMENT OF FASHION AND LUXURY COMPANIES and 20241 MANAGEMENT OF DESIGN (former 8409);

• students enrolled in other Master of Science programs choosing at least 1 from among the courses offered on the fashion topic: code 20338 (former 8400) MANAGEMENT DELLE IMPRESE DI MODA: i processi operativi [Management of fashion companies: operational processes] and code 20339 (former 8401) MANAGEMENT DELLE IMPRESE DI MODA: i processi strategici [Management of fashion companies: strategic processes] and 20237 (former 8344) MANAGEMENT OF FASHION AND LUXURY COMPANIES

Students enrol in such activity via yoU@B student Diary (sign up for various activities box) approximately in the month of February 2011 . The profile is published on the website at  http://www.unibocconi.eu/profiles

Information
For further information on the above programs we suggest you to consult the website: http://www.cs.unibocconi.eu/

Markets and External Affair Division

Internship Office 

Piazza Sraffa 11 - 20136 Milano - fourth floor - room 405
infostage@unibocconi.it
infostagebienni@unibocconi.it (account which is only to foward the emails for the authorization in advance by the Program Director).

Placement Library/Career Service Information Desk
Room 418

Ph. +39 02 5836 2711
placement.library@unibocconi.it