Entry requirements
Second or third year students of the Honours College FSW programme.
Description
Are you curious about how academic knowledge influences the world of work in practice ? About day-to-day processes in a certain work domain, maybe a completely different area from what you're training for? The Honours Societal Internship gives FSW Honours students an opportunity to explore what it’s like to work in practice, from an academic perspective.
Honours FSW students can find a societal internship in whatever area they choose. Depending on the extent and duration of the activities involved, this internship is worth between 1 and 5 EC (which includes compiling the internship report).
The starting point for the internship is the student's own clearly formulated exploratory question, in which the academic knowledge he or she has acquired is applied in the work environment. What do you want to find out, and what skills will be needed in the practical context you will be exploring? So you organize your Internship around your own questions and areas of interest.
The focus is all on forming an acquaintance and acquiring a clear picture of the work environment in practice. Students do this by looking over employees' shoulders, interviewing people, and working on specific tasks under the watchful eye of their internship supervisor.
The organization could be a government institution (e.g., a national government body, local government body, or water authority), a company in the business sector (from small company to multinational), a volunteer organization or non-governmental organization (NGO), or a non-profit professional cultural or social organization (such as the Red Cross, a museum, a social or cultural foundation, a health authority, or a mental health institution).
The intern's role should be clearly described. To ensure that this is the case, a short internship plan and contract is drawn up between the institution, the student, and the Honours College.
On the Blackboard page of your cohort, a manual with more information about the societal internship can be found.
Course objectives
Integration of knowledge and skills in research and practice previously acquired in course work, in particular in realistic work situations;
The acquisition of further relevant knowledge and skills, and insight into practical situations in the work field;
Intensive acquaintance with a relevant field of research or work;
Learning to function independently and responsibly in an organization (professional attitudes);
Gaining insight into one’s own potential and limitations, both with regard to skills and with regard to personal functioning.
Timetable
TBA
Registration
Contact your coach, Nienke van der Heide or Dorothée Out, if you are interested.
Mode of instruction
The internship is supervised by your coach and a supervisor from the organization in which you carry out the internship.
Assessment method
After your internship, you will write a report which includes the following chapters:
- Introduction: what was your motivation for choosing this internship?
- Organization: a brief description of the organization in which you carried out the internship
- Internship plan: briefly describe the activities carried out in the context of the internship
- Evaluation and reflection: you suggest answers to your underlying question on the basis of the activities you carried out as part of your internship. In addition, you will situate your findings and observations in a broader academic and societal context, discuss any possible ethical perspectives and reflect on your own performance in the context of the internship.
- Illustrative examples and self-reflection
- Summary and review of the most important insights and skills you had gained by the end of your internship
- Looking forward: how will the work experience you have gained in your internship influence your choices for your future as a social scientist and your future work environment?
- Bibliography
- Appendices: internship contract, internship plan, time sheet, ‘Seen and approved' statement
You coach will review your report and assign a ‘Pass’ or a ‘Fail’.
Reading list
Not applicable
Contact
If you have any questions, please contact your coach, Nienke van der Heide or Dorothée Out.