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2023/2024  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
  • Alfred Reckendrees - Department of Business Humanities and Law (BHL)
Main academic disciplines
  • Management
  • Organisation
  • Sociology
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 01-12-2023

Relevant links

Learning objectives
The internship report should demonstrate the student's ability to
  • comprehensively present and discuss the tasks carried out during the internship or in the field of practice of the company / organisation;
  • identify a topic (particular challenge or problem) relevant to the host organisation and/or the work undertaken during the internship within the perspective of the BSc Soc programme;
  • discuss the identified topic using concepts, theories, and methods from the BSc Soc syllabus;
  • present the report in a clear and accessible form that meets the basic requirements of academic writing, including correct citation and referencing.
Prerequisites for registering for the exam (activities during the teaching period)
Number of compulsory activities which must be approved (see section 13 of the Programme Regulations): 1
Compulsory home assignments
As a prerequisite for participating in the exam the student has to deliver a two to three pages long paper. in which the student develops a theme and an academic hypothesis for their internship report.

The hand-in date of this paper is set by the supervisior. It must lie within the first half of the respective internship. This activity shall help develop the report and allow for a first comprehensive feedback.
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
Release of assignment Subject chosen by students themselves, see guidelines if any
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 professional learning experience outside of the Business School. They offer students a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in a company, non-profit or public organisation. The main objective of internships is to transform academic and theoretical knowledge into professional experience. This must be reflected in the report. 
 

Hence, the report contains two elements:

  • a description of the organisation and the internship together with key learning experiences;
  • a reflective paper on an academic topic that relates the host organisation and/or the work undertaken during the internship to relevant concepts, theories, or topics from the BSc Soc curriculum.

 

The report has to have a clearly deliniated topic and must be written using academic literature from the programme or approved by the supervisor.

 

Formal requirements for the internship and the report are available on MyCBS.

Examiner = the supervisor.
 

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

Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

An internship can be an elective worth 7,5 ECTS and must include both job training and formalised learning processes. It must take place in an existing organisation (company, governmental, non-governmental) where the student is hired by a contract specifying the 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 188 hours for a 7,5 ECTS internship. 
 

An internship must have academic content. Projects will not be pre-approved and reports will not pass if it is evident 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 get in touch with relevant organisations as early as possible in order to get the most out of the internship. Some places have very well defined internship arrangements, while others may never had an intern before. The contract is therefore 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

•  Human Resource Management

•  Marketing and branding

•  Public management and international politics

•  Business and Politics     

•  Finance, economics, macro and managerial economics

 

CBS academic supervisor

The student is responsible for finding a supervisor from the BSc Soc faculty. It is possible to choose CBS faculty beyond the programme as supervisor, but the supervisor needs to be approved by the Internship coordinator. The role of the supervisor is to ensure that the internship meets the overall requirements and is relevant to the study programme. In addition, the supervisor can help to shape 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 can 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 start of the internship. The application must be submitted using the available form 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 scope 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 to a BSc in Business Administration and Sociology student and include a preliminary academic hypothesis suitable for examination through the activities the student will undertake during the internship. The internship must be relevant to the BSc Soc competency profile. This will be assessed by the nature of the host organisation and 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 topic idea suitable for examination through the activities during the internship (note that this idea can be revised later, but remember to get your supervisor’s approval)
  • The name of the suggested academic supervisor
  • The suggested supervisor’s agreement to supervise

 

Please consult information on My.CBS.dk on how to apply. 
 

Contract with the organisation

The student must sign a contract with the host organisation prior to the internship. This can be prepared in collaboration with the supervisor and the mentor and should include agreements on: tasks, working hours, expectations regarding the outcome, formal requirements and contact persons. Important issues in this regard are the definition of the work content and the workload. The tasks of an intern are often related to assisting the organisation in its daily work. However, it is a good idea to combine this with a specific task that can be related to the internship report. This could be an investigation into a particular 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.

 

 

Description of the teaching methods
Supervision from CBS supervisor 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 188 hours
Report writing and exam 18 hours
Further Information

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.

Last updated on 01-12-2023