Internships

The internship takes place in contracted local authorities under the supervision of registered social workers. This allows the student to observe and experience professional practice directly. The internship normally takes place in the second semester of the second and third year of the course and is initiated via an online procedure.
Internships are organised as follows:
 
I year Introductory seminars to the internship experience conducted in the classroom by social workers working in the area in the different sectors of intervention: minors, adults, the disabled, the elderly.
 
Year II 275 hours of internship alongside a supervising social worker in local authorities and services.
 
Year III 275 hours of internship alongside a supervising social worker in local authorities and services.
 
The internship is governed by: the Internship Regulations, approved by the Degree Course Committee on 14 September 2020, which will apply from the academic year 2020/2021 for all active cohorts,
 
the Internship Guidelines that guide the trainee and company mentor in defining the internship pathway.

The following prerequisites are required to carry out the internship:
A passing grade is required for INTERNSHIP I (in the 2nd year of the degree course):
of the examination of Principles and Foundations of Social Service For INTERNSHIP II (envisaged in the third year of the degree course) it is required to pass the examination of Methods and Techniques of Social Service I of INTERNSHIP I

The student must submit to the internship commission the APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION TO INTERNSHIP 1 (reserved for students in their second year) and the APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION TO INTERNSHIP 2 (reserved for students in their third year), following the instructions and deadlines given on the home page in the Notices section and on the Deadline Summary page.
 
Once the application has been received, the Internship Commission will match the Company/Student and the internship will be activated through an online procedure (http://www.unipr.it/servizi/servizi-lo-studio/tirocini-e-stage/tirocini…), as indicated below:
The Institution willing to host the student in an internship must enter into an agreement* with the University of Parma; once the agreement has been approved, the Institution may proceed with the compilation of the training project through the "KNOWN STUDENT" procedure; when the Host Institution has started the "KNOWN STUDENT" internship, an internship application (Training Project) will be generated, which will always be visible to the student on the ESSE3 portal under the menu item "MY INTERNSHIP"; the student must autonomously enter the surname of the Academic Tutor in the internship application (Training Project); once the name of the academic tutor has been indicated and the training project has been viewed, the student may proceed with the confirmation of the project by clicking on the "accept training project" button; after the student's acceptance, the system will automatically inform the academic tutor that he/she has been chosen and will invite the teacher to enter ESSE3 for the evaluation of the training project; after the academic tutor's approval, the Careers and Services for Student office will conclude the procedure by starting the internship.
 

* If the company already has an on-line agreement with the University of Parma, it will immediately be possible to proceed with the compilation of the training project through the "KNOWN STUDENT" procedure.
 
For more information on the online internship activation procedure and to consult the GUIDE for Students click HERE:
If there are any changes (e.g. extension of the start or end date, temporary interruption of the internship, etc.) to what was previously indicated in the training project before starting the internship or during the course of the internship, these changes must be communicated in good time via the ESSE3 student page (My Internships menu item, click on the traffic light in the extensions and suspensions column for the internship concerned). Then proceed to make a new request.
 
This procedure must also be followed if the student concludes the internship, upon reaching 275 hours, before the deadline indicated in the training project.

• The company, the student and the academic tutor will be notified by e-mail of the completion of the on-line procedures for the activation of the internship. The status of the file will also always be available on the ESSE3 portal in the 'My Internships' section.
• The student may then contact the company tutor in order to agree on the start of the internship. The contact details of the company and the company tutor can always be viewed by the student as they are listed in the work internship project published in ESSE3.
• The student is required to complete 275 hours of work internship in accordance with the procedures and instructions set out in the work internship RULES and the internship GUIDELINES.
• Once the 275 hours of internship have been completed, the internship may be terminated;
• At the end of the internship, the trainee and company tutor must attach the final documents (attendance sheet, materials prepared by the trainee and tutor's assessment) in ESSE3, which are useful for the recognition of ECTS credits. The trainee must also complete the internship questionnaire;
• The university tutor will take into account the assessment made by the company tutor and the materials attached to ESSE3 by the trainee and, if the internship has been successfully completed, will approve the internship for the award of ECTS credits.

At the end of the internship, the students must enter the following attachments in their on-line internships page (ESSE3) in the dedicated section:  

• the attendance sheet;
• final materials prepared by the student (see academic tutor's instructions);

A final interview with the university tutor is not required for the recognition of work internship ECTS credits. Therefore, at the end of the internship, the attachments must be uploaded into ESSE3 on the Internship page so that they can be assessed by the university tutor.

 
To add an attachment, you have to ⇒ log into ESSE3 with your credentials and go to the section Internships (my internships) and under Attachments enter the document.
Adding attachments to the internship application may be done by the student at any time during the internship, even at the end of the internship, but it is strongly recommended that they be added before the formal closure of the internship.
The attachments entered by the student will always be visible to the academic tutor and the contact person of the host organisation. Likewise, the documents attached by the host organisation's contact person to a student's application for an internship will be visible to the student and the academic tutor.
ATTENTION: The display of attachments is allowed to all actors in the process, but THE MODIFICATION AND REMOVAL of attachments is only allowed to the user who has inserted them.
 
Fill in the final evaluation questionnaire: The student's completion of the final internship evaluation questionnaire is a prerequisite for authorisation of the recognition of internship ECTS credits on the student's academic transcript. This is permitted from the day after the end of the internship. Once completed, the questionnaire will always be visible to the Host Organisation and the Academic Tutor but cannot be recompiled.
At the end of the internship, the company contact person must:
Attach the final internship evaluation online to the student's training project. Attachments can be made by the company contact person at any time during the internship and will always be visible to the company contact person, the student and the academic tutor.
To add an attachment, log in to ESSE3 with your credentials, click on the My Internships menu item in the INTERNSHIP section and consequently on the "View" item corresponding to the row of the student internship for which you wish to add a "new attachment".
At the end of the internship, the academic tutor must:
Evaluate the internship course taking into account the assessment made by the company tutor and the materials attached by the student in ESSE3.  If the student has complied with all the requirements and the course has been completed successfully, the academic tutor approves the internship for the subsequent recognition of ECTS credits.
Telling and sharing your internship experience If you would like to tell and share your internship experience, please write to the Internship Commission by filling in this form