The internship has to cover 18 weeks (excl. holiday, illness etc). Part time work is not acceptable. Missed working days (holidays, illness, but not public holidays) must be made up. If the practical work is exceptionally performed in several sections, it should be noted that the training period in the company must cover at least 4 consecutive weeks.

Student traineeships (but not on an hourly or daily basis activities), other training periods (such as pertinent lessons with final examination at the Chamber of Commerce) or professional activities may be recognized in so far as they conform to the practical activities prescribed by the current internship regulations.

The skills and the experience to be gained during the internship can usually be acquired in medium and large industrial enterprises or in larger companies in the system development sector.

Permanent staff must comprise at least 20 persons, including at least five engineers.

Power plants or large research institutions are also eligible.

Small businesses with no development or system orientation, such as e.g. computer shops, are not acceptable, as well as internships at universities or in the student's parents' companies.

Each company conforming to the present guidelines is allowed to accept our students for an industrial internship. The student is responsible for ensuring compliance with those guidelines.

The Internship Office of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology is not in charge of finding the internship placements, but it advises as to the suitability of the companies.

IAESTE is an organization which lists trainee positions and also has a branch at the RWTH.

http://jobs.trovit.de

www.jobvector.de

www.stepstone.de

www.monster.de

www.wiwo.de

www.jobware.de

www.praktikum-service.de/

Also the local employment agency and the Chamber of Commerce list appropriate and recognized training companies for interns. Each company conforming to the present guidelines is allowed to accept our students for an industrial internship. The student is responsible for ensuring compliance with those guidelines.

Practical activities abroad are recommended and accepted if they meet the present guidelines in every respect.

The record book must be submitted in German or English. A certified translation must be added to the certificate, if it has been issued in a language other than German or English.

Exceptions from these rules require prior consultation with the internship office.

Practical activities include engineering tasks in the field of electrical engineering and information technology:

• manufacturing, installation, operation, maintenance, inspection and/or
• research, development, design, calculation, construction and integration of hardware and software components or systems

Administrative activities, domestic installations, repair of household radio and television sets for example are no engineering-related activities. Just like mere working on software without reference to electrical engineering, software-installations and programming courses do not count as practical activity during the internship.

The interns have to write an internship report. The report is a coherent text describing the activities carried out by the interns themselves. In addition, the following issues can be addressed: the experience gained from the practical activities, for example procedures, use of equipment and techniques, organizational arrangements, impact on man and the environment, occuring problems.

The report should be as comprehensive as possible, but nevertheless brief and clear. It must be evident that the author him- or herself has carried out the work. Sketches, diagrams, flowcharts, etc. often save a long text. Illustrations deriving from external material must be marked as such and their source must be mentioned. For every internship week there should be a self-created illustration.

In addition, the report must include lists of activities for each day, including the hours worked. These compilations and/or the report have to be confirmed by the supervisor in the company at the end of the practical activity.

The following form should be adhered to:

- Cover page with name and matriculation number and the name and address of the internship company

- Table of contents

- A coherent text on DIN A4 sheets

- Size: at least one page of text per week (pictures, notes, etc. not included)

- Font size 12; 1.5 line spacing

- Binding: Clip binder etc.

- Authentication: Stamp and signature of the internship supervisor on the last page of the report

- Attachments: Daily lists of work and the internship certificate

 

In addition, the supervisor shall issue a certificate for the internship. See below for more information on the certificate.

The internship documents must always be submitted no later than six months after the end of each practical activity at the Internship Office.

Internship Office

In recognition of having completed practical training in addition to the reports a testimony of the company in the original (or certified copy) must be submitted. This testimony shall contain:

• personal information (name, first name, birthday and place of birth),
• company, department and location,
• time and duration of the internship,
• topic of the task (when editing a project)
• absent and vacation days, or the fact that no absent or vacation days occurred.

The practical activity required in exchange programs (e.g. T.I.M.E. double degree program) is governed by specific contractual arrangements of the partner universities. In this case please contact the Internship Office personally.

A special seminar has to be done after the internship. Every participant must give a talk (report of one's experiences) during the seminar.

You should choose a seminar which is organized by the lecturer who is probably going to take care of your master thesis.

The seminar certificate has to be submitted to the Central Examination Office (ZPA).