The internship is an important moment in the student’s training because it allows the student to have a first-hand training experience in the field. In particular, the student can undertake:

• a compulsory curricular internship, if this is included in his/her Study Plan, the duration and standards of which are predetermined by the individual Study Courses; the activation of each compulsory curricular internship is in fact subject to the prior approval of the Teacher “Responsible for Internships” of the Electronics Engineering Course (Contact Person of the Academic Structure for Internships) and of the Academic Tutor identified by the student, who also evaluates the final report on the internship experience before proceeding to the assignment of the CFUs provided for the internship in the Study Plan;
• an optional type of curricular internship, i.e., not included in the candidate’s Study Plan and therefore not aimed at obtaining additional CFUs, but only at the acquisition of practical experience and to enrich the curriculum in view to the entrance inti the world of work. Often this optional type of internship is aimed at the experimental development of the degree thesis.

In the specific case of the Electronics Engineering Course, the compulsory internship can be chosen by the student in the third year of the Bachelor’s Degree and is worth 15 CFUs, as an alternative to other teachings. The student may also decide to carry out other optional internships before or after the first level degree. On the other hand, in the Master’s Degree in Electronics Engineering, the compulsory internship is not foreseen; the master’s student can choose to carry out an optional internship in a company, almost always carried out for the purpose of preparing the final Thesis for the achievement of the Master’s Degree. Of course, the student can also carry out the activity of preparing the final thesis for the Master’s Degree within a research laboratory of Politecnico di Milano, without having to activate an optional internship. In the case of an internship in a company, whether optional or compulsory, the student will have a specific Corporate Guardian and a specific Academic Guardian, of his/her choice or suggested.

Whether you are looking for an internship or simply want to evaluate the possibility to undertake an internship, you have a variety of online and offline support tools at your disposal. For example, for information about what the internship consists of, what are those offered, how to apply to the company, how to formalize the internship relationship with it, how to choose the Academic Guardian and what steps to follow for the proper conduct of the internship, the student can take advantage of:

• classroom meetings for students of courses that allows a compulsory internship; the Career Service organizes with the Contact of the Academic Structure of Internships (SAT), meetings of training and information, to explain to students timing, levels of training and how to search for the internship;
• Internship Center that the student can contact by phone or e-mail or go there personally (at the Career Service, Leonardo Campus, Rectorate, ground floor) every day, without appointment, to receive advice on research, activation and preparation for carrying out internships;
• Academic Structure of Internships (SAT): students can also rely on the guidance and information support of the teachers responsible for the internships of their Course of Study for suggestions on companies that offer internships, the type of activity required, the quality requirements of the training project proposed in the internship and the choice of the Academic Guardian

In particular, for the Master’s Degree in Electronics Engineering, the SAT manager accumulates a considerable amount of internship proposals of companies in the Milano and Lombardia area, but also of companies scattered throughout Italy and other foreign countries, where several students have done both optional internships and compulsory ones. Depending on the specific interests of the student, the SAT manager or any other teacher of the Master’s Degree in Electronics Engineering is able to provide further suggestions for choosing the company, the activity to be carried out or simply the Academic Guardian or the Company Guardian to be consulted.

As for the online search, the student has various tools at his/her availability:

• the Career Service offers the opportunity to prepare an effective application through a preliminary online course that teaches how to write a CV;
• notice board with internships in Italy and abroad, daily updated with new internship offers received directly from Italian and foreign companies;
• database to consult the profiles of companies affiliated with the Politecnico di Milano that offer internships, divided by sectors of activity or disciplinary area of interest; the student can send his application to the chosen companies through their websites or through the application of the Career Service;
• Once in a year, the Career Service opens the call for the participation in the “Erasmus+ for traineeship programme”, through which students can apply for an internship financed by the European Commission at a company or organization based in one of the participating European countries.

Finally, as for the offline research, students can make use of the following tools made available by the Career Service or by individual courses of study:

• annual calendar with more than 150 meetings at the Politecnico di Milano, with the active participation of Italian and international companies; the proposed meetings are focused on specific courses of study or transversal production sectors and consist of round tables with managers in class (in the teachings that request it), workshops or corporate case studies, mentoring meetings with Alumni, trade fairs, aperitif networking, etc..
• real interviews for available internship positions, carried out at the Politecnico di Milano directly with employers (every month, during the Recruiting week) or simply cognitive and organized in some teachings of the Master’s Degree Course.
• three major job fairs every year, the “International Job Fair” for work/internship abroad (every year in October), the “PMI Day” to find work/internship in small and medium Italian companies (every year in November) and the “Career Day”, the largest fair with over 150 companies all on the same day at the Politecnico di Milano.

During their internships, the student can refer to the Academic Guardian, chosen by himself or assigned by the SAT manager, to set up the activities of the internship, in case of doubt about how to implement the project or to have technical-scientific advice. The student can also count on the ongoing support of the Career Service, to report any problems of relationship with the company or the Tutor, or related to doubts about the achievement of training objectives or the quality of support provided by the company or the specific company contact.

Career Service http://www.careerservice.polimi.it/