Internships may be carried out during either semester of the academic year or during the summer period. In all cases, they must be assessed within the same academic year in which the student is enrolled in the course, through one of the official assessment periods (January/February, June/July, or September). Consequently, students undertaking their internships during the summer must be assessed in the September assessment period of that academic year.

Although this is a fourth-year elective course, third-year students who meet the established academic requirements may also enroll. In such cases, the internship must likewise be assessed during the academic year in which the student is enrolled.

Internships may only be undertaken in companies, spin-offs, start-ups, technology centers, large-scale scientific infrastructures (such as the ALBA Synchrotron, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, or the IMB-CNM Clean Room Facility), or scientific and technical services of universities and research institutions. Internships in university research groups or research centers are not permitted. The only exception applies to placements abroad, where internships may be carried out within research groups at international universities or research institutions. In such cases, students must contact both the course coordinator and the UAB Employability Service in advance, as the latter will manage part of the required documentation.

The internship must comprise between 280 and 300 hours of on-site work. Financial compensation from the host organization is optional.

Students are responsible for finding a host organization. A list of companies that have hosted students in previous years and may be interested in doing so again is available in the “Internships in Organizations” section of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Degree Communication Space on the Virtual Campus. However, students are not required to choose an organization from this list. If a student wishes to undertake an internship in an organization not included in the list, they must contact the course coordinator to assess its suitability.

Before starting the internship, students must be enrolled in the course. To formalize enrollment, they must submit the pre-agreement form (“preconvenio”) to the Academic Management Office. This document is available both on the degree website and in the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Degree Communication Space on the Virtual Campus.

The pre-agreement is an internal university document that includes information about the student, the host organization, the external supervisor, and the proposed work plan. Once completed, it must be sent in editable format to the course coordinator for review. If approved, a final PDF version will be generated and signed by the coordinator. The student must then submit this document to the Academic Management Office to initiate the enrolment process, which includes arranging the corresponding insurance and establishing the formal agreement between the university and the host organization. This is a routine and generally efficient procedure that is usually completed within a few days. To facilitate and expedite the process, students are advised to have an electronic signature.

Although self-enrolment is available for this course, it is not mandatory. By default, students are assigned to the assessment group corresponding to the January/February assessment period, although they may request a change of group through the Academic Management Office. Students do not need to have secured an internship placement before self-enrolling. Enrolment may be completed at any point during the academic year, provided that the enrolment period, which usually closes in mid-June, has not expired.

All relevant information and documentation can be found in the “Internships in Organizations” section of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Degree Communication Space on the Virtual Campus.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

The course includes three assessment periods, depending on when the internship is carried out:

• January/February: for students undertaking their internship during the first semester.
• June/July: for students undertaking their internship during the second semester.
• September: for students undertaking their internship during the summer period.

Before the start of the internship, students must provide their host organization supervisor with the internship evaluation form. The supervisor must complete and sign this form and send it to the course coordinator once the internship has been completed.

Upon completion of the internship, students must prepare and submit the following two items:

a) Written report: prepared in accordance with the template available in the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Degree Communication Space on the Virtual Campus.

b) Oral presentation: prepared following the specific guidelines available in the same Virtual Campus space.

The final grade for the course will be distributed as follows:

• Evaluation by the host organization supervisor: 40%
• Written report: 35%
• Oral presentation: 25%

The course coordinator will establish the deadlines for the submission of the written report and for the receipt of the evaluation report from the host organization supervisor. The coordinator will also assign the date and time of the oral presentation, which will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams. This information will be communicated well in advance of each assessment period.

Assessment will focus primarily on aspects such as the student’s integration into the professional environment, adaptability, autonomy, work organization, initiative, and successful completion of the assigned tasks.

Although scientific and technical content is not the primary assessment criterion, both the written report and the oral presentation are expected to demonstrate rigor, clarity, conciseness, and an effective communication of the activities carried out and the results obtained during the internship.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

In this course, the use of AI tools is permitted as support for the preparation of the written report. However, the work must clearly demonstrate the student's original and substantial contribution, particularly in the processing of information and data, the critical analysis, the interpretation of the results, and the formulation of the conclusions.

Students must declare whether they have used AI tools, specify which tools they have used, and explain the purpose for which they were employed. Failure to disclose the use of AI will be considered a breach of the principles of academic integrity and may result in a penalty in the assessment of the activity.