Academic Internship abroad
Course content
The student can choose to take an academic internship abroad during the Master’s program in Economics, comprising 30 ECTS credits. An academic internship falls within the category of non-constituent restrictive electives.
The purpose of academic internship abroad is to provide students with professional experience in:
- Obtaining relevant international professional experience within diplomacy, which is challenging to attain through other means
- Unfolding and expanding their economic and general academic skills
- Strengthening the student's prospects in the international job market
The academic internship abroad must be academically relevant to the Master's program in Economics. Such a program can only take place in organizations listed in the following positive list, where academic work is conducted, and where there is employed academic staff capable of providing professionally relevant supervision:
- Danish official representations abroad (e.g., embassies and consulates)
- Other countries' official foreign representations outside Denmark (e.g., Swedish, or German embassies and consulates)
- UN organizations based outside of Denmark
- EU organizations (EU Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe)
- The World Bank and regional development banks (e.g., Asian Development Bank)
- IMF
- OECD
- WTO
- ECB
- BIS
The list of approved places is limited to organizations relevant for economists, where experience in the field is challenging to obtain through student jobs and volunteer work in Denmark.
Academic internship at international companies and NGOs cannot be approved. Similarly, academic internship in Denmark cannot be approved.
MSc programme in Economics – elective course
At the end of the academic internship, students are expected to be able to:
Knowledge
- Demonstrate knowledge of and analytic insight into the institution at which the internship is conducted
Skills
- Apply and discuss for relevant economic theories and methods in a practical context
- Summarize and analyse a topic in a well-structured written assignment
- Carry out and implement economic-based analysis in a practical context
Competencies
- Identify how economic competencies can be applied in an international workplace and use them for concrete problem-solving
- Reflect on the relationship between economic theory and its practical application in an international work setting
- Critically and independently reflect on and discuss applied economic theories and methods for a chosen topic
Academic Internship at a workplace and supervision.
Internal Supervisor
Students must enter into a supervision agreement with a full-time
teacher at the Department of Economics. Student may receive up to 5
sessions of 30 minutes, equivalent to one meeting per month, with
the internal supervisor. The supervision should be based on the
problem statement and the content of the project report.
The internal supervisor must have the opportunity to review the
contract between the student and the workplace, as well as the
tasks the student is expected to perform at the workplace before
the agreement is finalized.
External Supervisor
Students must be assigned an external academic supervisor employed
at the workplace. The external supervisor is responsible for
supervise practical tasks at the workplace and for drafting a
contract between the workplace and the student outlining the tasks
the student can expect to perform. The external supervisor
continuously develops and evaluates the academic work with the
student in accordance with the expected learning
outcomes.
Pre-Approval
The student must complete and sign an application for pre-approval
of the academic internship. The agreement aims to ensure that the
program is as well-thought-out as possible, including tasks,
working hours, contact person, as well as the practical and formal
framework.
The agreement for the academic internship is a written agreement
between the department, the student, and the workplace, outlining
the rights and obligations during the stay. An academic internship
must, at a minimum, correspond to 5 months of full-time work,
equivalent to 30 ECTS. The academic internship must receive
pre-approval from the Head of Studies.
Problem statement and project report
Within 2 months of the commencement of the academic internship, the
student must submit a problem statement for the project report
(week 41 in the autumn and week 11 in the spring). The problem
statement is to be submitted to the internal supervisor, who must
approve it. The problem statement may be adjusted in agreement with
the supervisor if needed during the academic internship.
Requirements for the problem statement:
• The problem statement must be based on and be relevant to the
project, the workplace, and the focus area of the workplace
• The problem statement must address a relevant societal issue.
• The problem statement must be rooted in a central economic
question and involve relevant economic theory and/or empirical data
An approved problem statement is a prerequisite for submitting the
project report for assessment.
Requirements for the project report:
In the project report, the student is expected to:
• Address the problem statement using economic literature and
methodology (the central part of the assignment)
• Account for the workplace and the tasks carried out during the
academic internship
• Present the overall academic outcome, acquired skills, and
insights gained during the academic internship
The expected workload for the academic internship:
("practical training" indicates the expected working time
at the place of the internship)
Academic internship of 30 ECTS:
Practical training 704 hours
Preparation and exam 120 hours
A total of 824 hours
Students register by applying for pre-approval.
The exact procedure is described on the study information page for Academic Internship on KUnet. Submission takes place in Digital Exam. Exceeding the submission deadline means that the assignment will not be assessed, and a used examination attempt will be recorded. The student then can register for a re-exam, where the same requirements for the project report apply.
- ECTS
- 30 ECTS
- Type of assessment
-
Written assignment
- Type of assessment details
- Individual written assignment (report).
The scope of the project report is 15-20 standard pages (of 2400 characters each). - Exam registration requirements
-
Students must have received a pre-approval for the academic internship and be registered for the academic internship to participate in the exam. Additionally, the student must submit a problem statement two months into the program.
- Aid
- All aids allowed
- Marking scale
- passed/not passed
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
- Exam period
-
You can find hand in deadline at KUnet under Study Information, Eksamen, Find tid og sted.
- Re-exam
-
Re-exam: Same as the ordinary exam.
Criteria for exam assessment
The project report is assessed based on the description of the
learning outcome for academic internships (knowledge, skills, and
competencies).
Censorship form: No external censorship
- Category
- Hours
- Project work
- 824
- English
- 824
Kursusinformation
- Language
- English
- Course number
- AØKK08432U
- ECTS
- 30 ECTS
- Programme level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
-
1 semester
- Placement
- Spring And Autumn
- Studyboard
- Department of Economics, Study Council
Contracting department
- Department of Economics
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Social Sciences
Course Coordinator
- Thomas Markussen (16-7b6f7674687a35746879727c7a7a6c75476c6a767535727c356b72)
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