FAQ on Internships for Students

• The Company/Institution I am working at has asked proof that I received training on health and safety in the workplace. What should I do?

If you are an intern within and organization outside the University of Bologna, it is the host that should provide health and safety training, be it general or specific, as they know their own risk-rate. However, it is possible to provide the host with a certificate of attendance from health and safety courses that you may attend or have attended at Unibo (you can download them from SOL)

•  For internships to carry out at a lab or office within the University of Bologna: I have attended before the courses on health and safety in the workplace, at Unibo in person / at another University or Higher Education Institute - can I have them recognized?

The Internship Office, while checking your internship application, will verify if you have completed modules 1 and 2 on health and safety. However, only courses attended on the University e-learning platform can be directly verified; if you own a certificate from a course attended in person, or attended outside Unibo (i.e. at other Universities or Higher Education Institutes), you may send it to the following e - mail address: spp.formazione@unibo.it and forward then the answer to the Internship Office. Please consider though that module 2 cannot be recognized and must be carried out on the Unibo e-learning platform.

•  The company/institution posted an internship offer targeted to me on SOL - Tirocini but I cannot see it, why?

Before you can see and accept the offer, the Internship Office will have to make some administrative checks. You will receive an e-mail when the offer will be online, ready for you to accept it.

•  I am aware that the host organization has an agreement with Unibo, but I cannot find it on SOL - Tirocini, why?

The partner organizations can choose whether to be visible by students on the internship database; if they choose not to be visible, you cannot submit speculative applications: the host organization will have to post an internship offer addressed to you specifically.

•  Can I carry out half of my internship within one host organization and the other half elsewhere?

No. The internship must be carried out at a single host organization.

• What procedure should I follow for business travels and journeys outside the host organization’s headquarters?

The internship plan must include the main address of the host organization, together with the related extensions/departments/offices (if any). If you are expected to partially or totally carry out your duties in locations other than the headquarters, addresses of locations you will be likely to work at should be added to the internship plan.

Should you need to travel to locations not included in your approved programme, you can ask for an insurance extension to the Internship Academic Tutor. Please contact the Academic Tutor by email, with the Internship Office and reference person at the host organization in carbon copy. The intern will then wait for their request to be approved before travelling.

Furthermore, please detail as much as possible how the planned business trips will take place (i.e. specify the places/areas of interest, if the intern will be accompanied, or under the supervision of the reference person from the host organization).

•  My study plan allows me to take up two internship activities; can I do them both at the same host organization?

Yes, if you have not received any different indications from your study programme. In the event of two internships activated at the same host organization, you must still receive two different offers and apply twice on SOL-Internships.

•  My internship is connected to my dissertation project: should I tick “for final examination”?

Please tick this box only if, in your study plan, you had selected “Internship for final examination”. If not (namely if you selected any other kind of internship), please do not tick this box, even though the activities you have performed (or are performing) in your internship are actually linked to your dissertation.

•  I started up the internship before downloading the attendance sheet. Can I take into account the hours I have worked so far?

No, only the working hours in the approved period (p.1 of the attendance sheet) can be considered. NB: The internship period indicated on the approved internship programme may be subject to changes (depending on when the programme is signed by all parts involved).

•  I will carry out my internship as part of a mobility programme (ex: Erasmus+, grants for preparing the dissertation abroad); do I need to apply on SOL-Internships and refer to the Internship Office too?

No, you are not required to apply twice for the same internship (that is, to the Erasmus call or dissertation+internship abroad call, and the SOL-Internships procedure). However, you may contact the Internship Office if you wish to do an internship abroad outside of these mobility schemes.