General guidelines on internship during the COVID-19 crisis
17 March 2020
(these Guidelines do not apply to internships and internships in Social Service Sciences and in Social Work and Services for Families, Minors and the Community programmes, due to the peculiarities of these programmes)
- Ongoing active internships and smart working
Students should have been already informed that internships can continue for the time being, if the provisions of the Region in which they are carried out allow it and the host institution is available to do so. Many companies and institutions are activating or have activated smart working internships, which the Faculty considers appropriate for the training course. - Procedures in case of internship interruption already in progress until the completion of the internship, and reduction of the number of hours
In the case of interruption before the end of the internship, the student needs to acquire the credits to finish his or her education at the university.
Two types of cases are as follows
Graduating students of April and July sessions
Given the emergency situation and the very tight time frame for the organisation of replacement and additional activities, the situation is likely to be as follows- Credits are acquired with a minimum percentage of hours already completed compared to the expected total of 60% and with a number of hours not less than 100. In case the percentage is less than 80%, the end of activity report shall in any case be subject to evaluation by the Coordinator
- For less than 60%, but more than 30% (each Board of Directors establishes a minimum threshold between 20% and 40%), for those internships that have not been completed, additional activities are envisaged such as:
- online courses as in these weeks of distance learning, but more focused on the working environment;
- frontal activities upon the resumption of the course (students graduating in July);
- project work;
- more in-depth and structured end-of-activity report will be subject of Assessment by the Coordinator.
Graduating of the following sessions (September and December)
Students graduating in September and December will be able to reschedule the activity for the internship at the host institution. This is to be considered the best route to completion. In case this is not possible, as there is more time for the organization of substitute and supplementary activities, the following is foreseen- Credits are acquired with a minimum percentage of hours already completed compared to the total of 80% and with a number of hours in any case not less than 100
- For less than 80% of the number of hours, but more than 30% (each programme establishes a minimum threshold between 20% and 40%), it is expected that the internships will be completed in addition to the internships not completed
- online courses as in these weeks of distance learning, but more focused on the working environment;
- frontal activities when the lockdown ends;
- project work;
- more in-depth and structured end-of-activity report assessed by the Coordinator.
- Alternative activities for internships not yet activated (students graduating in July, September, December).
Given the foreseeable difficulty of activating internships in the next few months:- Each programme makes a survey of the alternative activities to the internship offered and, if necessary, proposes others, also to avoid overcrowding.
- It is possible to allow the modification of the study plan to replace the internship with other training activities among those proposed by the programme and with an exception of the need to acquire the attendance percentage
- Communication
The lines adopted for the various aspects and courses of study are communicated directly to the Stage and Placement unit and to the internship tutors, as published on our website.