Guides to the university

Three-year Bachelor programs allow students to include an educational internship apprenticeship/training (from now internship) experience or a similar activity in their study plans An internship is worth 6 credit points, as an alternative to an elective course held in Italian (see "Bachelor Degree Program structure").

For the calculation of the graduation grade after the participation in the curricular internship see "Final paper and graduation".

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 following paragraphs and sections does not apply: "Duration", "Positioning", "Recognition", "Other activities recognized in lieu of internships and their recognition".

Internships must satisfy the following characteristics involving duration, objectives and contents, location and positioning.

Duration

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

In special cases, part-time internships can be allowed, as long as they last a minimum of 16 weeks, in Italy or 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.

Objectives and contents  

The internship is an in-the-field training experience and not a labour contract whose regulations are valid in Italy and are set by the law* and by the University. The main objective of internships is to educate. They allow students to gain real work world and professional experience while developing professional skills. They help students get their bearings in these areas and facilitate their professional choices. Students acquire direct knowledge of the continuously evolving world of work. The contents of internships must be aligned with the educational objectives of the Program. The in the field experience includes a company tutor (professional expert) supporting the students.

*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
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

As the aim of the internship is to acquire personal and working experience, the University is positioning such experience after the completion of learning activities which are fundamental to gain theoretical basic knowledge.
Therefore, students may participate in an internship only after completing second-year lessons.
Internships are registered in students' academic careers as a third-year educational activity.

Università Bocconi recognizes internships organized by any of the following parties: Markets and External Affairs Division (see information below); Bachelor Program Direction.

Only in exceptional cases students can have internships found via their own channels recognized, at highly qualified companies. In this case necessary that the students contact the Internship Office well in advance and always before the internship starts to request to carry out the internship by filling out the appropriate online form. The Internship Office will assessed the internship proposed and will inform on the request outcome. If it is accepted, the internship starts and it carefully monitored. 

Markets and External Affairs Division
Internship opportunities in Italy and abroad are promoted through:

• JobGate: an online platform which is updated daily with internship and work opportunities reserved to Bocconi students;
• Internship Programs in companies, Chamber of Commerce, foreign Consulates in Milan, International Institutions, non-government organizations, Italian Permanent Representatives abroad;
• Arts and Culture International Program: a program offering internship opportunities at cultural institutions;
• 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.

Whatever channel is used to find an internship, the host company or organization in Italy and Bocconi sign an internship agreement and a training and orientation project on the objectives and contents of the internship via the JobGate. As the promoter of the initiative, the University will prepare all the necessary legal documentation, check the quality of the training projects, and provide insurance coverage.
Students must always contact the Internship Office well in advance and in any case before starting the internship in order to formalize the internship through the documentation above. Before starting a curricular internship, the student must access the course Stage...si parte! available on Bocconi e-learning platform within Extracurricular courses and pass the final test.

This is valid also for internships to be carried out in Offices and Departments of the University. They must be formalized through a training project prepared by the Università Bocconi Personnel Staff Office.

Also internships abroad are run by internship agreement and a relating training project. However internships without such documentation can be run with an internship contract or other document demonstrating practice educational experience according with the local laws where the internship experience is held. Internships which are not provided with such documentation cannot be recognised as internship.

At the end of the internship the following documentation is required:

• Evaluation form filled out by the student via the yoU@B student Diary;
• End of internship report by the student via the yoU@B student Diary (only for internships carried out abroad);
• evaluation form of the company tutor sent by the Internship Office via email through the appropriate link when the internship starts.
• Certification of internship completion given by the company tutor.

All internship experiences must be previously approved in order to ensure their consistency and coherence with the educational 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 the student must request and obtain the approval in advance by the Coordinator of the Internship Office. This is valid also for the internships to be run in the University Offices and Departments. The authorization is a compulsory requirement to start the curricular internship. The students must request the early authorization through the appropriate flag in the Home page trainee section on the JobGate page dedicated to their training project.

 Final validation

Students submit the :

• end-of internship documentation to the Internship Office within 2 months after the end of the internship (for those students who are carrying out study programs abroad this deadline is not applied):
  - print of the evaluation form by the student;
  - print of end of internship report (only for internships carried out abroad)
• Certificate of end of internship.
  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, after carrying out the assessments due, validates or not the experience carried out for recording it in the student’s academic career; if positive, the student signs the form provided by the University for the internship recognition.

The University carries out checks during the internship of the student in order to verify the real running of the internship. In case the student is repeatedly not found the internship is annulled. Such communication will be forwarded urgently to the student and to the host company.

Registration
The internship is registered by the deadline for the completion of the exams provided for in the program structure set for the graduation. 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.

The recognition can be possible only if the student has to 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 , as the set deadline for the completion of the study plan approaches (around a week before the deadline).

Withdrawal and interruption
Withdrawal/interruption of the internship, which must be communicated urgently to the Internship Office, 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).

For curricular internships, in case of the early interruption, even if the reuirement of the minimum duration has been met, the internship may not be recognized. The early authorization is given on the basis of assessment of all internship characteristics, including the duration.

As the internship is not a labour by Law, it is 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:

a) ISU/Università Bocconi

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 check the ISU Download Area.

b) Erasmus Student Placement
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.
Internships must last minimum three months and have curricular worth.  Further information: http://www.cs.unibocconi.eu/. The ISU and LLP Erasmus scholarships are not cumulative.

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, apprenticeships, traineeships, limited-time work contracts ("lavoro a progetto"). These are subject to the same rules (duration, positioning and channels for searching such opportunities) as internships. Follow the instruction described in paragraph 5.4 , to get the authorization in advance students must send an email  to the Program Director and to the Internship Office before the start of the internship or when starting it with copy of the contract drawn upo with the company.

Students must verify that the contract includes (or, as an alternative he/she must provide the following data in attachment) the following information: name and company typology, field of the activity, number of employees, location, name and contacts of a company reference person, period of the activity.

At the end of the internship students must submit a short report containing information on the nature and duration of the activity along with a declaration of the company certifying the presence of the student at the company doring the period specified on the recognition request. After the appropriate assessment the Internship Office communicates the outcome of the student’s request and if positive prepares the recognition form in order to have the internship recorded in the student's academic career.

Information
For further information: http://www.cs.unibocconi.eu/

Markets and External Affair Division
Internship Office
Piazza Sraffa, 11 - 20136 Milan
Tel: +39 02 5836 2712
infostage@unibocconi.it

Placement Library/ Career Service Information Desk
Piazza Sraffa, 11 - 20136 Milan
Ph. +39 02 5836 2711
placement.library@unibocconi.it