BIOEC320 Internship

Credits (ECTS):10

Course responsible:Thore Larsgård

Campus / Online:Taught campus Ås

Teaching language:Norsk

Course frequency:Annually.

Nominal workload:200 hours in company. 50 hours work on the project report (including required readings), participation in teaching sessions and log writing.

Teaching and exam period:The course is offered in the autumn parallel. The course has teaching/evaluation in the autumn parallel.

About this course

An internship offers you as a student a unique opportunity to gain work experience in a study-relevant company. You can try out theories and methods in practice and at the same time contribute extra resources and research based knowledge directly from your study. This way, your internship will represent a mutually useful work relationship full of learning opportunities for both parties.

This subject takes practice as its point of departure within the students area of study: food/aquaculture or forestry/biorefining. The aim is to gain relevant practical experience and apply academic knowledge in practice. You will use reflection tools to develop new understandings from learning-by-doing in close relationship to theory. The subject will cover execution of practice, analysis of practice, sharing of practice experiences and critical reflection on practice in different learning situations, which are to be closely connected to theory and methods. This subject content includes a practice period where you are present in the organization according to agreement throughout the whole practice period, two to three teaching sessions and a project report. You will use logs as a tool to document reflections in and over practice.

This subject requires two mandatory deliveries. A practical delivery consisting of your contributions to practice in agreement with your employer regarding work tasks and results formulated in a project description (included in the internship agreement), and an academic delivery in the form of a project report.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

You will develop knowledge about the work in your field of study in order to gain a deeper understanding of the current challenges that different actors face in practice
You will learn to relate own practical experiences in the internship to theory and methods in the study program to gain deeper insight into the application of these to create new knowledge and understanding that challenges established thinking and doing

Skills:

You will learn to collaborate to identify new opportunities, which can contribute to novel and creative ideas, change and growth in your internship company
You will develop skills to analyse, formulate, communicate and use solutions in the company as well as to make well-founded choices by reflecting upon theory and practice
You will develop skills that enables you to describe, reflect upon and share practice-based experiences and learning with others

General competence

You will be trained to contribute as a professional within your subject area
You will be able to work independently, participate in the company as a team-member and contribute as a partner to the innovation challenges that the organization deals with
You will gain competence to absorb and reflect over practice-based learning

Learning activities
The learning activities will take place in cooperation with your employer and other people in the company; in reflection sessions with fellow students and teachers at the university, and in reflection logs with feedback from the teacher and in writing the project description and project report. As an important part of the study subject, you will contribute constructive reflections and share your practical experiences in the plenary sessions.
Required activities: Participation in the internship organisation as agreed in contract, participation in seminars, logg writing and submissions, project report.
Practial delivery - based on the project description in the internship agreement. Practice will take place in a specific company/institution. You work on real work problems within your field of study, such as idea and creativity development, business development and commercialization. You follow the work rhythm in the organization, take part in daily operations and get to know the work environment. You will be responsible for a certain task or project. Your work can be structured functionally, assigned to a specific role, function or task, or you may work on a project in accordance with the needs of your employer. You will be guided by a mentor in the company and a teacher from NMBU. The student is responsible for finding a relevant employer for the internship. The work is unpaid.
The internship agreement include a project description. The internship content is agreed upon by student and employer and you are to describe and define the content in a project description. This description shall contain the date for start and closing of the practice period, time schedule, milestones, deliveries and the name of the person responsible for the student in the company. Examples of deliveries are analyses, enquiries, fact finding, reports, presentations, workshops etc. Deadline for handing in the project description for approval by the course responsible is September 6th.
You will fill out and send the internship agreement between student, company and School of Economics and Business NMBU to the course responsible for approval within the first week of september (deadline September 6th).
Academic delivery - project report. You will write a project report of maximum 10 pages where you are supposed to link theory, methods and practice and reflect upon the internship as well as your pratice-based learning. The project report shall show ability to reflect based on learning in practice in close relationship with required and self-chosen literature. Further information about the report form and content will be provided at the course outset.
Teaching support
Canvas, reflection sessions, mentor in the company/organisation.
Prerequisites
We prefer that students have completed around 60 ECTS before start of internship.
Assessment method
Portfolio assessment with a reflection report.
The project report counts 100% of the evaluation.
You will document your practice-based learning through reflection logs throughout the internship period. The final academic delivery is a project report, which is to be written individually. In order to get the project report graded, the requirements for mandatory participation in teaching, practice and logs have to be carried out. The project report is graded as pass or fail.

Portfolio Grading: Passed / Not Passed
Examiner scheme
Internal examiner performs the examination.
Mandatory activity
Project description, standard agreement, sessions, participation in daily practice in the company/organisation and logs.
Teaching hours
The teaching takes place through seminars.
Preferential right
The course is only open for master students in Bioeconomy - Biobased Value Creation and Business Development.