Project-oriented Internship (30 ECTS)

E2025

International Politics and Governance

Project oriented internship

Elective

English

Read about the Master Programme and find the Study Regulations at ruc.dk

Please be aware of the approval requirements for a project-oriented internship. You can read more about the approval process here

30

Laust Schouenborg (lausts@ruc.dk)

Laust Schouenborg (lausts@ruc.dk)

ISE Registration & Exams (ise-exams@ruc.dk)

U60471

The project-oriented internship allows students to acquire first-hand knowledge about academic practices at the relevant labor market and tests their academic qualifications in relation to the work functions they are expected to undertake upon graduation.

The project-oriented internship consists of a stay with a relevant employer as well as internship supporting activities that in total sum to 800 hours work. The student is responsible for securing the project-oriented internship position and the practical matters associated with the internship.

The project-oriented internship must be pre-approved by the board of studies before it is started. The intern’s main tasks must be described, and they must lie within the subject area of the programme.

The learning in the internship is achieved via a mix of practical tasks, reflections on the intersection between theory and practices and via the independent preparation of the internship project. The preparation of the internship project takes place under the supervision of an internship supervisor.

Determined individually in collaboration between student and supervisor.

The internship must be pre-approved by the Board of Studies before it is started. It is expected that the work efforts of the semester are distributed at ¾ of the time at the internship and ¼ at the university (equivalent to approx. 540-600 hours at the place of internship and approx. 200 hours at the university). The principal activities of the intern must be described and be within the scope of the subject area of international politics and governance. Obligations in the course of the internship. In addition to the work at the internship host, the student has a number of obligations and work assignments relative to the university. On-going obligations encourage reflections on the meeting between theory, method, professional tools and practice, and the contribution of the internship to the student's competence development. The final internship project enables the student to deal with a self-selected theme related to the internship.

**On-going obligations:

Submission of a halfway report before the seventh week of the commencement of the internship. The halfway report must include:

Reflections on the internship consisting of a one-page description of the work/activities of the internship and key research questions addressed by these as well as the daily tasks of the student in the organisation and one page of reflection on which professional theories and methodologies that have been particularly relevant to the work done so far at the intern host.

Proposal for the internship project subject area and problem formulation (max. 4,800 characters including spaces). 2 pages) Draft internship project structure (theory, method, empirical data, analysis)

Proposal for a minimum of 650 pages of the internship project's total literature of 1,300 pages.

Submission of draft project report before the 13th week of the internship. The draft must be at least 24,000 characters including spaces. The size specifications include the title page, table of contents, bibliography, figures, and other illustrations, but does not include any potential appendixes or annexes. Assignments that do not comply with the size specification will not be assessed and one exam attempt will have been used. They must at least be 24,000 keystrokes in length. The size specification is based on 2,400 keystrokes, including spaces, per page. The size specification includes the cover page, table of contents and literature, but excluding any Annexes.**

Subject area, problem formulation and structure (table of contents)

Draft of theory and methods section

An outline of the project's empirical analysis

The ongoing obligations are part of the guidance and are submitted to the supervisor during the course of the internship.

The activity is evaluated regularly based on the study board's evaluation procedure. The responsible for the activity will be informed of any evaluation of the activity at the start of the semester. See link to the study board's evaluation practice here: https://intra.ruc.dk/fileadmin/assets/ise/Undervisning/Evaluation_procedures_at_ISE.pdf

Will be made available on Moodle before semester start.

• Having completed an internship, the student will have acquired the following skills:

• empirical knowledge of issues and topics relevant for the host, particularly regarding the subject matter the student chooses to analyse in the project

• ability to assess and navigate internal organisational functions tasks, procedures, and decisionmaking processes (that the student has been involved in)

• ability to combine academic skills (theoretical, analytical, methodological) acquired during the programme and use these to solve practical and/or policy issues and tasks

• ability to assess the implications of specific academic findings for a chosen field of practice

• ability to develop practice-oriented recommendations

• ability to select academic literature to shed light on a practical problem area.

• ability to plan, complete, and deliver tasks in a professional workplace environment

• ability to work analytically with empirical data

• ability to take responsibility and engage professionally in a professional work environment.

Project-oriented internship with a written product

The product can be written individually or in a group.

The character limits of the written product:
For 1 student : 45,600-62,400 characters, including spaces.
For 2 students: 57,600-76,800 characters, including spaces.

The character limits include the cover, table of contents, bibliography, figures and other illustrations, but exclude appendices.

Assessment: 7-point grading scale

Samme som ordinær eksamen / same form as ordinary exam

Assessment criteria:

High emphasis is put on the ability to:
• identify relevant actors and their roles involved in the specific sector that the internship takes place

• analyze systematically the collected data and substantiate answers to the project’s questions

• appraise critically chosen academic literature combined with the knowledge gained during the internship

• develop recommendations for practice based on the internship’s project and reflect critically on the study’s findings in relation to the existing state on particular issues as they unfold in practice