Internships

The University of Parma promotes curricular internships in order to facilitate professional choices through direct knowledge of the world of work and the realisation of moments of alternation between study and work.
The curricular internship integrates and completes the student's training pathway through the performance of practical activities which, on the basis of the provisions of the Degree Course Regulations, may be carried out in structures within the University or externally at qualified public and private bodies with which the University has entered into appropriate agreements.
The internship involves three parties: the student, the promoter (the University of Parma) and the host (company or organisation) where the activity is carried out under the guidance of a student tutor, a university tutor and a company supervisor.
Curricular internships are not a prerequisite for an employment relationship between the intern and the host structure, nor can they be a substitute for company labour or professional services.

Internships in the Food Science and Technology second cycle degree course

The Second-cycle Degree in Food Science and Technology is obtained by passing the Final Examination, which consists of the discussion of a thesis with a high content, usually experimental, on an original research topic developed during the training period.
Internship and Final Examination are therefore interconnected so that the student can acquire further operational skills by developing original research as well as the ability to organise the results obtained in a written report (Dissertation) and to present and critically discuss them in the Final Examination.
The internship activity is therefore an integral part of the final examination in a synergetic and joint educational pathway.
The Second-cycle degree Thesis activity can be carried out in three different ways:
- INTERNSHIP IN INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY.
- INTERNSHIPS IN ATHENAUS STRUCTURES (at departments or research groups operating within the University of Parma).
- INTERNSHIPS IN EXTERNAL FACILITIES (in companies, public or private bodies outside the University of Parma (including other universities), with which appropriate agreements have been entered into. 
 
Thesis regulations and annexes - for students enrolled in the academic year 2021-2022 and subsequent Thesis Regulations and Annexes - for students enrolled in the academic year 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 Thesis regulations and annexes - for students enrolled in the academic year 2018-2019 and previous years

Regolamento tesi e allegati - per studenti e studentesse immatricolati/e nell'a.a. 2021-2022 e successivi

Regolamento tesi e allegati - per studenti e studentesse immatricolati/e nell'a.a. 2019-2020 e 2020-2021

Regolamento tesi e allegati - per studenti e studentesse immatricolati/e nell'a.a. 2018-2019 e anni precedenti

Video recording of meeting between job placement officer and students - December 2021

Video recording of meeting between job placement officer and students  (december 2021)
 

General information for external internships

In accordance with the regulations of the course of study, students may carry out training periods in companies or organisations that have an agreement with the University of Parma.
For this purpose, you can download the list of facilities that are already affiliated to date, with some caveats. The list is sorted by Sector and Company Name, and refers to the companies or organisations whose agreement has been activated within the Study Course. In any case, any student may enter any company, regardless of their home course.
IMPORTANT:
1) The student must follow all the procedures laid down in the internship/thesis Regulations of the relevant course of study and move in agreement with the internal supervisor/tutor, including in the choice of the company or body with which the internship or thesis period may be carried out;
2) if a company or institution is included in the list, it does not automatically mean that they are willing to receive new interns or thesis students;
3) the student is asked to contact one company or organisation at a time, always in close consultation with the internal supervisor/tutor, waiting for a reply before proceeding with new contacts;
4) the list is not exclusive: the student may carry out the internship in any company or body that has an agreement with the University of Parma, regardless of the degree course of first activation, or in a company or body that does not yet have an agreement, by activating a new agreement;.
5) in any case, once an agreement has been reached with a company or organisation, it is advisable to ask the University's Academic and Career guidance division for confirmation of the validity of the agreement by sending an email to tirocini@unipr.it specifying the company name and address of the registered office.
Lastly, students are advised to carefully consult the Regulations for internships and second-cycle Degree theses available on the website, and the provisions of the University of Parma's Academic and Career guidance division (https://www.unipr.it/tirocini-curriculari) The reference Professor for internships and second-cycle degree theses is:  
Prof. Pedro Miguel Mena Parreno  e-mail: pedromiguel.menaparreno@unipr.it

 

Access to internships

The teaching staff of the Second-cycle degree course with the collaboration of the other food teaching staff members of the Department of Food and Drug have planned a substantial part of their internship offerings, divided into 4 different periods of entry into internship, in order to give students the opportunity to plan their internship period with peace of mind, choosing from a variety of opportunities.
The internship offers refer both to traditional experimental activities to be carried out in the Department's laboratories or in companies outside the University, and to bibliographical research and discussion activities aimed at writing compilation theses.
Students are reminded that there is no difference in the evaluation of the two types of theses.
To access internship offers, students must contact the Professors/Instructors of interest, who will act as academic tutors.
Each Professor/Instrucotr will use his or her own criteria to decide on assignments.
This experimental start of organising the provision of internships will serve to define shared criteria in the near future.
For internship offers in the area of Microbiology, which are not broken down by Professor/Instructor, students are invited to contact any Professor/Instructor in the group, who will then process the response after discussion with colleagues.
Professors/Instructors may give the student an immediate answer or decide to wait for a period of time to make a possible selection from among several applicants.
Once the internship has been agreed upon with the student, the Professors/Instructors will communicate this assignment in real time to Prof Mena Parreno and Mr Barchi to update the WEB page and to Prof. Rinaldi to enter it on ESSE3 and thus allow the formal activation of the internship.
The regular updating of the webpage will enable all students to get a real picture of the situation regarding the availability of internships.
All other routes used by students to seek external internships remain valid. Students, based on the availability of the company and the content of the proposed training project, must find a Professor/Instructor to take on the role of academic tutor, and then once these requirements have been met, the internship activity will be formalised using the usual route on ESSE3.
For any clarification, please contact the contact person for internships prof. Pedro Miguel Mena Parreno
pedromiguel.menaparreno@unipr.it

List of internships offered by the Department's teaching staff

List of internships offered by the Department's Professors/Instructors

 

Online internship activation procedure

Since 2015, the university has activated the online management of internships. The new management envisages that each individual interlocutor COMPANY, STUDENT, UNIVERSITY, will manage exclusively online the part of its competence relating to the signing of Training Projects and the management of the recognition of internship periods carried out by the student.
To access the online procedure, the student must access the following page: https://unipr.esse3.cineca.it/Home.do
Below is the link to the page of the University website dedicated to curricular internships where you will find the procedures for activating and completing internships:
https://www.unipr.it/tirocini-curriculari-online