(optional course)
Provide the
student with a full-time three-months experience in the computer science career
field by working with a participating employing firm, organization or academic
research center.
The student will be supervised by a faculty member
acting as a liaison between the University and the employing organization to
ensure compliance with specific learning and experience requirements. The employment can be either in Belgium
or abroad, and normally would include practical experience.
Consider that because of the overlapping
between the internship calendar and the second session, only students having no
second session or a second session with less equal than 12 ECTS are eligible
for the internship. If a students starts an internship
procedure and after the first session appears not to be eligible any more, all
existing agreements are automatically declined.
Four are
the main actors of the internship process.
1.
The
Student, enrolled in the first year of the Master of
Computer Science and registered in the Faculty of Sciences.
2.
The
Academic Supervisor, i.e. a member of the professor staff teaching courses
(mandatory or optional) in the ULB CS Master.
3.
The
Host Company Supervisor, i.e. the legal representative of the organization
hosting the student for the internship.
4.
The
Computer Science Internship Coordinators (Pr. G. Bontempi and M. Jansen).
á Actively search for an internship
opportunity, by contacting directly employing organizations, academic
supervisors and searching in repository with internship offers (e.g. here).
á Meet with an academic supervisor to
discuss the internship and the pedagogical content.
á Once an agreement between the
student, the Host Company and the academic supervisor is found, submit a brief
job description, statement of educational goals, and a list of objectives to
accomplish those goals to Computer Science Internship Coordinator (Pr. G.
Bontempi). For details on the deadlines and the format of the description, see
the section ÒSchedule and formsÓ.
á Have the Internship Agreement
(convention de stage) signed by the Host Company Supervisor, the Student and
submit it to the Faculty of Sciences and the Computer Science Internship
Coordinator (Pr. G. Bontempi).
á Write bi-weekly reports indicating
the advance of the job and specifying which of the objectives and goals have
been accomplished. These reports should be delivered by email to the Academic
Supervisor.
á Write a mid-term summary report. This
should be validated and signed both by the Academic supervisor and the Host
Company Supervisor and sent to the Computer Science Internship Coordinator at
the end of the 6th week of the internship.
á Write a summary report at the end of
the internship describing the experience and objectives addressing the
achievement of goals. This should
be validated and signed both by the Academic supervisor and the Host Company
Supervisor and sent to the Computer Science Internship Coordinator at the end
of the internship.
á Meet with student to discuss
internship and approve or disapprove internship.
á Validate the pedagogical content and
the objectives of the internship proposal.
á Take care of the possible
intellectual property issues related to the internship.
á Advise student while performing
internship and ensure that the deadlines are respected.
á Inform immediately the internship
coordinator in case of major problems.
á Validate and sign intermediate and
final reports.
á Take part to the final interview to
assess the internship and assign final grade.
á Define together with the student and
the academic supervisor the pedagogical and technical objectives of the
internship.
á Assist the student in describing
his/her duties, goals and objectives.
á Inform the student of the conduct
rules of the organization.
á Verify that student has been
performing the duties as set forth in the goals and objectives.
á Verify that the Host Company shall
under no circumstances require the student to undertake tasks not within the
scope of his training.
á Validate and sign intermediate and
final reports.
á Inform immediately the Academic
Supervisor in case of major problems.
á Take part to the final interview to
assess the internship and assign final grade.
á Inform the student about the
schedule and finalities of the internship.
á Keep contacts with the Faculty of
Sciences.
á Manage the repository
of internship offers.
á Keep track of the student reports.
á Ensure that the deadlines are
respected.
á Organize the final evaluation.
á February 2012:
MA1 students start looking actively for internship opportunities, by contacting
external organizations, academic supervisor or consulting data banks containing
internship offers (e.g. the ULB CS repository
of internship offers.)
á Before the 31th of May 2012: students submit a brief job description, statement of educational
goals, and a list of objectives to accomplish those goals to Computer Science
Internship Coordinator (Pr. G. Bontempi) by using this
form.
á Before the 6th of
June 2012: students submit the Internship Agreement (convention de
stage) signed by the Student and the Host Company Supervisor to the Faculty of Sciences and to the Computer
Science Internship Coordinator (Pr. G. Bontempi).
á After the first exam session: in case of non
eligibility of the student (still more than 12 ECTS to pass in the
second session) the internship is cancelled and previous agreements are
declined.
á From 2012, July the 1st to August the 8th: the eligible student is required
to start the internship in the premises of the external organization. An
official communication of the start of the internship has to be sent to the
Computer Science Internship Coordinators (Pr. G. Bontempi & M. Jansen).
á 7th week after the starting date: the mid-term
summary report together with the evaluation
grid both validated and signed by the Host Company Supervisor and the
Academic Supervisor are submitted to the Internship Coordinator.
á 13th week after the starting date (and before the 5th of
November 2012): the final summary
report together with the evaluation
grid both validated and signed by the Host Company Supervisor and the
Academic Supervisor is submitted to the Internship Coordinator.
á From 2012, December the 17th to December the 20th : final interviews and assignment of grade. The
assessment of the student will be done after a presentation of the student
(15mins) in front of a committee composed of the Internship Coordinators (Pr.
G. Bontempi & M. Jansen), the Academic Supervisor and the Host Company
Supervisor. The schedule of the presentations is available here.
á Which organizations are eligible for hosting internships? In principle all organizations
(Belgian and non) which hire students with a Master degree of Computer Science
are eligible. Research labs of universities (other than ULB) are eligible too
for hosting internships. In any case the academic supervisor is the final
responsible for assessing the adequacy of the external organization with
respect to the pedagogical objectives of the Master in Computer Science.
á What if the dates of the internship do not comply with the above
schedule? The
program of the Master in Computer Science allows for an internship in the first
three months of the first semester of the second year. Internships with are
supposed to end after the 5th of November are not
acceptable. On the contrary it is admitted that the internship starts in
advance, though not before the 1st of July.
á Is a financial retribution or compensation of student foreseen? The aim of the internship is to
provide a working experience to the student as a part of the pedagogical
process. Though no financial support is provided by ULB, students may apply for
an ERASMUS Placement funding in case of an internship abroad (details here).
Also, personal agreements between the student and the external organization are
possible, though they will not be taken into consideration by the Internship
agreement. In other terms ULB should not be considered liable for any issue
concerning the student retribution.
á I have a second session. Can I still start the internship? The internship is supposed to be
full-time and to start before the second session. In order to avoid major
conflicts between exams and the internship, we adopt the following eligibility
rule: students having a second session with less equal than 12 ECTS to pass
are allowed to start the internship. For students having more than 12 ECTS to
pass in the second session, the internship is cancelled and all existing
agreements are considered declined.
á Can the internship topic be related to the Master thesis topic? Yes, it can. However the grade of
the internship will be given before (in December) and independently of the
Master thesis grade.