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2020/2021  BA-BSOCV3004U  Internship 7,5 ECTS

English Title
Internship 7,5 ECTS

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Autumn
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Business Administration and Sociology
Course coordinator
  • Benjamin Ask Popp-Madsen - Department of Management, Politics and Philosophy (MPP)
Main academic disciplines
  • Management
  • Organisation
  • Sociology
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 14-12-2020

Relevant links
Learning objectives
The internship report should demonstrate the student's ability to
  • comprehensively present, analyse, and discuss the tasks performed during the internship or on the field of practice of the company / organisation;
  • provide a reflective perspective on the specific internship in relation to relevant concepts, theories, and methods from Business Administration and Sociology;
  • discuss and use those concepts, theories, and methods for analysing contemporary corporate / organisational challenges;
  • present the report in a clearly formulated and accessible form, meeting the basic requirements of an academic text, including correct citation and referencing.
Examination
Internship (7,5 ECTS):
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 20 pages
Assignment type Report
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Winter
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
The re-take takes place according to the same rules as the ordinary examination.
Description of the exam procedure

The Internship

Internships provide students with a real life professional learning experience and offer students a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a company, non-profit or public organisation that works professionally with issues relating to Business Administration and Sociology. The main objective of internships is to convert academic and theoretical knowledge into professional experience. This must be mirrored in the report. 
 

Hence, the report contains two elements:

  • Firstly, a description of the organisation and the internship along with key learning experiences;
  • Secondly, a reflective paper relating the host organisation and/or the work completed during the internship to relevant theories, issues or problems from the BSc Soc curriculum.

 

The formal requirements for the internship and report are available at MyCBS.

The report should be between 20 and 30 standard pages. The internship report is assessed on the 7-point scale by one internal examiner (the supervisor).
 

The internship report must be submitted to Digital Exam. The hand in dates will be announced on MyCBS. The student must also hand in documentation of completion of the internship.

 

CBS academic supervisor

The student is responsible for finding a supervisor within CBS from the BSc Soc faculty. The role of the supervisor is to ensure that the internship meets the overall requirements and is relevant for the study programme. Furthermore, the supervisor can help with framing the topic and content of the internship report. If the student wants to collect data for future projects (e.g. the bachelor project) the supervisor may also be helpful in planning this.

The student is entitled to 4 hours of supervision (including preparation time for the supervisor). The student is responsible for scheduling meetings and meeting agendas.
 

Pre-approval and Internship Contract

At CBS: The internship must be pre-approved by the Study board based on the recommendation of the internship coordinator PRIOR to the internship commencement. The application is to be submitted on the form provided on MyCBS. Along with this form, two other documents are to be submitted:

 

  1. The internship contract with the organisation stating the time period and contract hours of the employment and the host organisation’s description of the extent and nature of the intern’s work and learning processes, and
  2. A motivational essay (1-3 pages). This must address why the internship is relevant for a BSc in Business Administration and Sociology student and include a preliminary academic hypothesis suitable for examination through the activities the student is engaged in during the internship. The internship must be relevant for the BSc Soc qualification profile. This is judged by the nature of the host organisation and by the nature of the work.

 

The pre-approval application must contain:

  • Your name, student number and contact details
  • The name of the host organisation
  • The host organisation’s description of the extent and nature of the intern’s work (on the form available on MyCBS)
  • An explanation of the relevance for the BSc Soc programme
  • An academic hypothesis, suitable for examination through the activities that the student is to be engaged in during the internship (note that the academic hypothesis can be revised later, but remember to get your academic supervisor’s approval)
  • The name of the suggested academic supervisor
  • The suggested supervisor’s agreement to supervise

 

Please consult information on MyCBS on how to apply. 
 

Contract with the organisation

The student also needs to sign a contract with the host organisation prior to the internship. This can be done in collaboration with the supervisor and the mentor and should contain agreements on: tasks, working hours, expectations with regards to the outcome, formal requirements and contact persons. Important issues in this regard are the definition of the work content and the workload. The tasks undertaken by an intern are often related to assisting the organisation with daily work. However, it is a good idea to combine this with a special assignment that can relate to the internship report. This could be an investigation into a specific area of the organisation. It is important to state clearly that the content of the work needs to be relevant for the BSc Soc programme and have a Business Administration and Sociology content.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

An internship can be an elective worth 7,5 ECTS and must involve both job training and formalised learning processes. It must take place within an existing organisation (company, governmental, non-governmental) in which the student is hired by a contract specifying time period and contract hours. The internship is not limited to organisations in Denmark, but can take place in all parts of the world. The duration of the internship depends on the contract, but the total period of employment must be at least 206 hours for a 7,5 ECTS internship. 
 

It is important to emphasise that an internship must have academic content. Projects will not be pre-approved and reports will not pass if it is apparent that the nature of the work has only been practical (coffee making, photo copying etc.). The internship report (see below) must apply relevant theories in analysing the organisation, parts of it, or aspects of its work. An internship is to be supervised by a mentor in the organisation (primarily for the job training) and by an academic supervisor from CBS.


In the initial phase, the student can meet with the internship coordinator for up to 30 minutes to discuss ideas related to the ‘kick-off’ phase of the internship. 
It takes time to set up an agreement with an organisation on an internship, especially if the internship is abroad. The student needs to engage with relevant organisations as early as possible in order to be able to gain the most of the internship. Some places have very well defined internship arrangements while others may not have had an intern before. Therefore the contract is very important.

 

The list of fields of study relevant to the BSc Soc profile is this:

•  Organisational sociology and economic sociology

•  Innovation and entrepreneurship

•  Corporate and business strategy

•  Globalisation, international business, markets and studies

•  Business ethics and CSR

•  Experience economy and service management

•  Management of information and knowledge management

•  Marketing and branding

•  Public management and international politics

•  Business and Politics     

•  Finance, economics, macro and managerial economics

 

Funding opportunities

Depending on the organisation, there are different potential funding opportunities. Some organisations offer an intern a small salary while others do not.
If the internship is abroad, there are private funds which may support travel expenses etc. ‘Kraks legathåndbog’ is a good database for Danish funds. To make the most of these potential opportunities, the student needs to start early as many of these funds have deadlines in the spring. The International Office may also be helpful in this regard.
Description of the teaching methods
Supervision from CBS and the organisation.
Feedback during the teaching period
Feedback will be given by the academic supervisor within the limits stipulated above.
The student is offered a feedback debriefing with the supervisor after having handed in the report and passed the internship. The debriefing will take place within two weeks of passing the internship examination.
Student workload
Internship 206 hours
Report writing and exam 206 hours
Last updated on 14-12-2020