Traineeship/Internship

1. Goal

The traineeship/internship is a formative experience in a job context, aimed at getting to know political, social, cultural and economic environments, becoming familiar with national and international structures and mechanisms, improving language skills, and developing organizational skills and autonomy on a personal level. The traineeship/internship takes place in one of the public or private institutions with which the University has signed a specific agreement. 1 CFU (formative university credits, ECTS) is recognized for every 25 hours of activity of the traineeship/internship, up to a maximum of 6 CFU. The activities must be performed within the framework of a minimum period of 1 month and a maximum period of 6 months.
It is preferred that students do the traineeship/internship in the second year. In this way, they will be able to take advantage of some of the competencies gained during the first year of the programme.

Other kinds of activities, identified in accordance with art. 9 of these rules and approved by the Teaching Committee through the Coordinator (or their representative), can be recognized as equivalent, provided that they are relevant to the MA degree programme, and that they last for a minimum of 150 hours (corresponding to 9 CFU). To have these activities recognized it is necessary to use the specific documentation. (see art. 9 of these rules).
Further information regarding the procedure and the forms can be found on the following web pages: internship in Italy, and internship abroad.  

2. Period and destinations

The traineeship/internship can take place in Italy or abroad (in EU countries, as well as in non-EU countries), preferably during the 2nd year of study.

Traineeship/internship in Italy: this can be started at any time of the year, provided that the student submits the documentation (and specifically the Agreement with the University, in the case that the company/organization has not already signed one) to the Internship Service (Settore Career Service e Stage Italia) well in advance. For all information regarding the traineeship/internship in Italy.

Funded traineeship/internship abroad: duration and starting dates are specified in each Call for application. For more information regarding the funded traineeships/internships abroad.

Non-funded traineeship/internship abroad: this can be started at any time of the year, provided that the student submits the documentation (and specifically the Agreement with the University, in the case that the company/organization has not already signed one) to the Internship Service (Settore Career Service e Stage Italia) well in advance.

More information on how to set up an internship.

3. Contents of the internship

Internships can be carried out in the international offices of organisations and private companies which operate on the international market, in public administrations and public territorial agencies, in national and international agencies of international cooperation organizations, in Italian or foreign consular offices, firms, chambers of commerce, as well as in foundations and research centres which promote the improvement of international relations, and the conception, implementation and monitoring of international cooperation programmes.  

4. Duration

1 CFU (formative university credits, ECTS) is recognized for every 25 hours of activity of the traineeship/internship. Internships must last for a minimum of 150 hours, equivalent to 6 formative university credits (ECTS), distributed over a minimum period of 1 month and a maximum period of 6 months.

5. Requirements

When students apply for an internship, they must have fulfilled the following requirements:

• 6 ECTS of the compulsory exam in English (registered)

Students who plan to submit their application to funded programmes must meet these requirements before the deadline of the respective CfA (Call for Applications), in addition to any other requirements.

6. Insurance

The University provides accident, work-related, and third party insurance for all students during their internships. For health insurance in EU destinations, the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) can be used, while for internships in non-EU countries it is highly recommended that students take out a private health insurance.

7. Finishing the internship and credit recognition

After the conclusion of the internship, students must report to their university tutor with all the documentation, which includes:

• record of attendance and company tutor’s evaluation
• copy of the training project
• one further copy of the training project’s first page (for the university tutor).

After receiving the internship documentation, listening to the student’s report, and reading the company tutor’s evaluation, the university tutor will evaluate the recognition of 6 ECTS for a minimum of 150 hours of completed work (1 ECTS = 25 working hours).

In case of internship abroad, the student has approximately 15 days to return to Italy, to report to the university tutor, and to submit the documentation to the Internship Abroad Office.( stage.estero@unive.it).
In case of internship in Italy, the documentation must be sent via mail to:  stage.dslcc@unive.it

In case of internship abroad, a bonus mark will be applied in the calculation of the final degree grade (for the rules regarding the final thesis and the final exam see.

8. Additional traineeships/internships

In addition to the curricular internship, which is mandatory and an integral part of the MA programme, students can carry out voluntary additional extra-curricular internships, which will be recognized with the awarding of university credits (ECTS). The formal procedure to be followed is the same as that for the curricular internship: students must submit all the documentation for insurance purposes. However, since this type of internship is not graded, it will not change the final mark for the course.

It is also possible to carry out an extra-curricular internship without any university credits; in this case too, all documentation must be submitted before the beginning of the internship, and returned completed at the end.

9. Traineeship/internship equivalent activity

In the case of other activities consistent with the goals of the traineeship/internship of this MA degree programme, students have the possibility to have them recognized  as “traineeship/internship equivalent activities” (for some general information about “equivalent activities”, see, at the bottom of the page).

Students wishing to apply for equivalent activities should download the necessary forms (to be found at the bottom of the page at; see also the personal pages of your university tutor), which must include:

• a certification signed by the company tutor; it must include the company name, its address and telephone number; it must also describe the kind of activity, its duration, and working hours;
• an evaluation by the university tutor, who states that the activity can be recognized as a traineeship/internship equivalent activity.

In order to be recognized as such, the activity must last at least 150 hours. If the period lasts for less than one month, the university tutor will evaluate each individual case, taking into consideration the specific activity.