Criteria for internship and graduation

Summary
Description of the criteria for internship and graduation for an assignment at an external company or institute, at an own company or at a Fontys research group.

A student can choose from three forms of internship or graduation:

1. At an external company or institution;
2. In an own company or;
3. At a Fontys ICT research group.

Internship and graduation must be carried out in fundamentally different contexts. Below you will first find the general criteria that apply to all forms of internship and graduation. After that, the additional criteria for internships and graduations in an own company and for internships and graduations at a Fontys ICT research group ¹⁾ are given.

For internships and graduation, conditions are set for the assignment, the company or institution and the supervisor of the organisation offering the internship. This section describes the criteria that apply to each of these elements.

An internship or final assignment must always be seen in relation to the company or institution where the internship takes place. The general criteria for an internship are as follows:

• The assignment to be fulfilled must fit the within the field of expertise of HBO-ICT. The chances of success are greatest if the assignment is related to the profile or specialisation previously chosen by the student.
• The assignment is of sufficient size and complexity. ²⁾
• The problem analysis is clearly described.
• The assignment is clearly defined and requires research (for graduation in all phases of the life cycle).
• The assignment is not business critical (no risk to the business or customer relationship).
• The assignment matches the learning objectives for professional development (as described in the project proposal).

The criteria for the company are the following:

• In general, there may not be a conflict of interest between the trainee (student) and the graduation company (example: no family business). ³⁾
• The company must be large enough to offer sufficient quality and quantity in the guidance of the student (for example: no single-person company). ⁴⁾
• The company must be able to offer continuity to the trainee in order to minimise the risk of premature termination of the assignment (examples: no foreseeable bankruptcy or reorganisation, no starting entrepreneur or business start-ups).
• The company must provide sufficient facilities for the student to work at the company.
• The student must be able to consult and communicate with all relevant stakeholders in the project.
• The graduation company must be able to provide the student with the necessary business information to carry out the final assignment.
• The student must be able to report on the completed final project so that the jury can form a well-founded opinion about the content and level of the project. In the case of sensitive information, reporting may be kept confidential. See the Canvas course Confidentiality.

The graduation company must assign a company supervisor to the student. The criteria for the company supervisor are:

• The company supervisor has at least a completed bachelor's (HBO) degree study programme with work experience in the relevant ICT domain.
• The company supervisor must have sufficient time (at least 2 hours per week) to supervise the student.
• The supervisor must be available at least four days a week so that the student can request advice at the level required for the final project.
• The student's supervisor meets the same language requirements that apply to the student as defined in the TER (OER).

The assessment of the above criteria and any other characteristics of a company or company supervisor is done by the internship or graduation coordinator based on his/her knowledge and insight. In case of doubt or disagreement between student and coordinator, a second internship or graduation coordinator will be consulted and the joint opinion of the coordinators will be decisive.

For an internship or graduation at an own company or Fontys ICT research group a number of additional conditions are attached as described below.

In addition to the regular Fontys ICT criteria for the internship assignment/final assignement and company supervision, the following criteria also apply to internships or graduation within an own company:

• The stability and continuity of the company must be guaranteed within the term of graduation.
• The quality of (hired) company supervision must be assessed positively by the internship and/or graduation coordinator.
• The Centre for Entrepreneurship has been consulted and the student has the status of “student-entrepreneur”. If this status has not (yet) been granted, the student must explain why the status has not been granted and motivate why graduation is still possible in an own company. This must be approved by the internship/or graduation coordinator.
• If an internship has already been carried out in an own company, graduation in an own company is no longer permitted.
• The Examination Board decides after advice of the 2 internship and/or graduation coordinators whether or not to allow the internship or graduation.

In addition to the regular Fontys ICT criteria for the internship assignment/final assignment and company supervision, the following criteria also apply to internships or graduation within a research group:

• The role of the company supervisor is fulfilled by a lecturer-researcher. The lecturer-researcher has at least a HBO (higher professional education) level, and has expertise on the domain of graduation (at Open Learning).
• The final assignment is part of a theme or programme within the research group and preferably has a link to multiple stakeholders including Partners in Innovation.
• The final assignment is available to all graduates and an application and selection procedure has been defined within the research group.
• If an internship has previously been carried out within the research group, graduation within the research group is no longer permitted.
• In case of hiring and internship compensation, the procedure on internship with Fontys ICT assignment applies.