Industrial Internships - General Information
The course program Scientific Computing is very close to scientific research at industrial companies. With its clear focus on application, an industrial internship at companies with a focus on scientific computing is recommended. Of course, the internship should be in the field of scientific computing. In general, before you start the internship, you have to register it and sign an internship contract with the company.
In case you intend to do an internship with a company, you have several options to credit this internship for your final transcript:
- Internship for key competence training (ÜK)
- Internship as practical (master advanced practical)
- Internship for your master thesis
- Internship for work
You find a selection of companies offering internships in the internship company section.
Internship for Key Competences (ÜK)
If you decide to do an internship for key competence training (ÜK), the guidance counsellor, Dr. Michael Winckler, is responsible. Please contact him for registration of your internship. The internship should last 4 to 8 weeks with a workload of 160 hours. 145 hours should be time spent at your company, and the other 15 hours should be spent on writing a report and doing a presentation on your work at your company.
The written report (5-7 pages) should include
- the proof of your internship
- basic data on the company and the duration of internship
- description of your duties, typical workday
- a section about your experiences, lessons learned.
Once per year the faculty holds an information session on internships. In this session students who did their internship during the previous 12 months give a short presentation (10 minutes). This presentation is open for everyone, who is interested. Aim of the presentation is other students learning from your experience.
This internship for FüK will be credited with 6 ECTS. The FüK internship module is ungraded. The report and the presentation are the mandatory deliverables to complete the module.
Internship as Practical (Advanced Software Practical)
As second option, you can do an internship that's counted as an advanced software practical. such an internship usually develops from your own contacts to a company. For the internship, you need two supervisors: One at the faculty and one at the company. Both your university supervisor and the company supervisor you are working with, have to accept the internship before your start it. This is usually done through an internship agreement. The workload for this internship is between 240 and 300 hours. During your internship you will work on a software project that has been defined in advance. At the end you will have to give a presentation on your work and results as well as a project report with documented software.
The internship as practical will be credited with 8 ECTS. The deliverables are the results and documentation of your project and a presentation of your practical for the two supervisors. The grade is awarded by the university supervisor after consultation with the company.
Internship for Master Thesis
The third option, that you have, is to do an internship along with your master thesis within a company. Again (as with the internship for practical), you need two supervisors, one at the faulty and one at the company. The topic of your master thesis will be defined in collaborative work between you and your two supervisors. Note that the faculty supervisor has the responsibility to represent the thesis at the faculty and therefor has the final saying on the definition of the thesis project. Of course, the research topic has to be close to the research topics of the study program. You will write your thesis on the research you are doing at the company and at the workgroup of your university supervisor. Afterwards you need to hand in your thesis and the documented software. The thesis will be graded by your supervisor and a second member of the faculty (as usual). The company usually provides a job reference letter to you, evaluating your skills as an internship student.
The internship for master thesis will be credited as your thesis (30 ECTS). Deliverables are your final thesis and a presentation and defence of your thesis results in front of a scientific audience. The company supervisor should be invited to attend the thesis defence.
Internship for work (Werksstudent)
Companies are offering extended internships usually lasting at least 4-6 months for advanced bachelor and for master students. Such an internship is a great opportunity to earn some money and simultaneously build a network of contacts in a specific company. Note that a working contract cannot be combined with a module that earns graded credits towards your degree (Magic formula: "Either grades or money"). However, it can count as an "Internship für FüK".
Internships often lead to further offers such as an internship for practical or an internship for master thesis. Note that if you intend to skip one term of the master's program and instead do an internship for work, you can officially apply for skipping a term. In this case you are not allowed to complete any credits during the leap term, but on the other hand the term will not be counted towards your degree. International (non-EU) students can also apply for a tuition waiver for this leap term. The possibility to do a practical for work also depends on the immigration title you hold. Please make sure that the visa allows you to work as a student intern.