Offering internships

An internship is an exciting and instructive experience for our students. After all, through an internship, students gain extensive and in-depth practical knowledge in their specialised field. Moreover, working with final-year students can also be an enriching and positive stimulus for your organisation or company.

The internship is a mandatory part of the Master of Bioscience Engineering: Sustainable Urban Bioscience Engineering and is situated in the second master year. Therefore, the students already have acquired substantial knowledge, skills and attitudes on complex urban environmental challenges and on the tools to address them.

The organisation of the internships is bound to a number of procedures that must ensure that the student’s year planning runs as smoothly as possible. We list the most important guidelines. We advise interested organisations to go through them and check whether they fit in with their own expectations and planning. For more information or questions regarding the internship, feel free to contact our internship coordinator Géraldine Godts at sube@uantwerpen.be .

The internship is a mandatory part of the Master’s programme. The internship can take place any time throughout the year: in the first semester (October – December), in the second semester (February – May) or during the summer holiday (July – September). 

It is recommended to limit the number of weeks of the internship (min. 5 – max. 10) and not to schedule only one day of internship per week.

In accordance with the number of credits allocated to the course ‘Internship’, the duration of the internship is fixed at (a minimum of) 25 working days. This can be full-time or part-time, to be discussed with the selected intern. If the internship organisation wishes to offer a longer internship, this must be clearly mentioned in the internship vacancy.

After selecting an intern, you will formulate an internship proposal together, which includes a short description of the internship assignment.

A good internship assignment is relevant and representative for the Master’s programme. That means it’s linked to urban sustainability and/or environmental challenges and it focuses on engineering aspects in addressing these challenges.

Furthermore, the internship assignment can be an active participation in the daily activities of the team or a project-related internship. In the first case, the student is assigned different tasks that are part of the functioning of the team and correspond to the work of an equivalent worker. In a project-related internship, the student is giving the opportunity to follow and concretely work on a (part of a) specific project from start to finish.

In both internship options, administrative tasks can be part of the internship assignment. It is important that these are in proportion to the other activities of the internship, more related to the engineering aspects of the assignment. An internship assignment that only consists of administrative tasks will not be accepted.

Finally, it is important that the student can work out (a number of) tasks independently and with some responsibility during the internship.

The internship company is expected to supervise and offer guidance to the student, as well as evaluate the student during the internship.

For the supervision and guidance of the student, the internship organisation assigns an internship supervisor who coordinates the organisation of the internship. This includes:

• the pedagogical guidance;
• giving instructions, guidelines and feedback;
• supervising the functioning of the student during the internship;
• reading and evaluating the internship report.

In addition, one or more internship mentor(s) may be responsible for the daily follow-up and practical guidance of the trainee.

(The students also receive guidance and assistance from an academic supervisor and from the internship coordinator.)

The final evaluation of the internship consists of three parts:

1. The written internship report
2. The work attitude and growth process of the student during the internship
3. The oral presentation and discussion

The internship supervisor is expected to take part in these three components. The final grade is determined by a jury, in which the internship organisation is represented by the internship supervisor.

We ask interested companies and organisations to fill in an internship vacancy, which will be included in our internship database.

The following aspect should be included in this vacancy:

• The name and a short description of the company / the organisation and/or the department where the intern will be placed
• If possible: period & duration
• A description of the expectations of the desired trainee.
• The contact details of the person responsible for the internships within the company/organisation/department to whom the student can address his/her application.
• A description of the application procedure

Offering an internship vacancy does not guarantee you an intern!

After review by the internship coordinator, the internship vacancy will be available for students through our internship database. The student are responsible for responding to a vacancy and to arrange an interview. As a company or organisation, you are responsible for selecting a motivated intern.

If the interview is positive for both parties and the internship proposal is approved by the Education Committee, an internship contract is drawn up, which is signed by the student-trainee, the internship organisation, and the internship coordinator. The internship contract also includes a comprehensive and detailed job description. Only when the internship contract is signed by the three parties, the internship can actually start. The University of Antwerp provides a standard internship contract, which states among other things that the intern is covered by the Civil Liability insurance policy and the Physical Accident Insurance Policy of the University of Antwerp.

Please contact our internship coordinator Géraldine Godts through sube@uantwerpen.be .