Guide in PDF format

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Work Placement

Code: 44530
Credits: 12

2026/2027

Degree programme	Type	Course
Geoinformation	PR	1

Contact lecturer

Name :: Anna Badia Perpinya
Email :: anna.badia@uab.cat

Teaching staff

: David Molina Gallart

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

The Work Placement module is done necessarily in the second semester, after the rest of the specialty courses had finished.

To register for the course Pràctiques Externes/Prácticas Externas or Practicum, one must contact the Masters' coordinator so that the profile of the student who requests to do an internship and the suitability of the internship in connection to the competences and the learning outcomes of the Masters programme can be evaluated.

Objectives

The Work Placement has an essential role in the Master's degree as an important educational experience and a first contact with the professional world.

The goal of the Work Placement is to carry out a definite professional project, from start to end, with specific objectives and tangible results. This project has to be a proposal from an external organization (company, government or institution) with the aim of testing the student's abilities and knowledge acquired throughout the whole Master's programme, and also to complete the eduaction programme with specific advanced contents, added according to the needs of each particular project and organization. The ultimate goal then is to develop the student ability to think and implement methodological and technical solutions to solve specific needs of an organization in the field of geoinformation.

The Work Placement is also the basis to develop the Master Final Dissertation.

Learning outcomes

CA29 (Design a valid and efficient geo-information solution to solve social, territorial and/or environmental challenges in different professional environments.) Design a valid and efficient geo-information solution to solve social, territorial and/or environmental challenges in different professional environments.
CA30 (Manage projects by providing geoinformation knowledge according to the organisation's criteria and content established by third parties.) Manage projects by providing geoinformation knowledge according to the organisation's criteria and content established by third parties.
CA31 (Communicate to an audience, both specialised and non-specialised, aspects related to the usefulness of geoinformation and communication technologies in a given project.) Communicate to an audience, both specialised and non-specialised, aspects related to the usefulness of geoinformation and communication technologies in a given project.
KA26 (Select the technology that can be used to efficiently solve the challenges posed by an organisation in the application of geoinformation.) Select the technology that can be used to efficiently solve the challenges posed by an organisation in the application of geoinformation.
KA27 (Participate in the definition of a specific professional project, from start to finish, with defined objectives and tangible results, at the proposal of an organisation (company, public administration or institution).) Participate in the definition of a specific professional project, from start to finish, with defined objectives and tangible results, at the proposal of an organisation (company, public administration or institution).
SA30 (Use end-user geospatial applications tailored to the specific situations and requirements of a particular case study.) Use end-user geospatial applications tailored to the specific situations and requirements of a particular case study.
SA31 (Develop mapping products that respond to the specific needs of an organisation/company within the scope of a particular case study.) Develop mapping products that respond to the specific needs of an organisation/company within the scope of a particular case study.
SA32 (Combine the specialised knowledge acquired to act in cross-sectional and interdisciplinary professional fields, providing solutions from geoinformation.) Combine the specialised knowledge acquired to act in cross-sectional and interdisciplinary professional fields, providing solutions from geoinformation.

The Work Placement consists in a 300 hours stage in an extermal organization (company, government or institution). The practical work develops according to a project with definined goals, schedule and results, having the aim that it cosntitutes a specific project in itself instead of a cummulative series of partial and disconnected tasks.

The Work Placement projects are proposed by the collaborative organizations so they could be real application cases, they be of interest to the organizations and involve them, and reinforce the sense of professional commitment by the student as they are in a reduced scale a professional order. Master's coordination revises and negotiates with each organization the project proposal to ensure its quality, feasibility and proportionality with respect to the educational nature of the Work Placement.

According to this goal, the search and selection of collaborative organizations is done by the Master's coordination. This ensures also that there will be as many organizations and projects as students in the Master's programme. Students, therefore, do not have to search by themselves the Work Placement organization, but they can suggest organizations to the Master's coordination if they have any.

The Work Placement is done in the middle of the secondsemester, so it does not interfere with the rest of courses of the Master's programme. This ensures also that students had received most of the programme courses an therefore they have advanced skills to undertake an actual professional project. During the Work Placement each student has a superviser from the external organization and an academic tutor from the master's teachers.

Learning activities and methodology

Title	Hours	ECTS
Revisión de resultados y control de calidad	8	0.32
Tutorials	8	0.32
Investigación y desarrollo	224	8.96

The Work Placement involves mainly autonomous work by the student that includes the applied activity of research and implementation, bibliographical and documental search, and report writing to document the tasks done.

Autonomous work is complemented by directed activities like tutorials and supervised activities for testing and quality control of the project results. Directed and supervised activities are carried out by the academic tutor and can involve, when needed, the supervisor from the collaborative organization.

The activities that could not be done ousite will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB's virtual tools. Exercises, projects and lectures will be carried out using virtual tools such as tutorials, videos, Teams sessions, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

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.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title	Weight	Hours	ECTS	Learning outcomes
Student report	25	25	1	KA26, KA27, SA31, SA32
Supervisor report	45	5	0.2	CA30
Material results of the Work Placement project (video)	30	30	1.2	CA29, CA31, SA30

In the event that assessment activities cannot be taken ousite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB's virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

a) Evaluation procedure and activities:

Work Placement is evaluated according to three components: material results (video) of the practical work done during the Work Placement (30% of the grading), student report (25%) and the supervisor report (45%).

The rubric is available on the course's virtual campus.

b) Evaluation schedule:

The evidences for Work Placement evaluation (material results, student reports, supervisor report) must be submitted at the end of the 2nd semester.

c) Grade revision:

Once the grades obtained are published, students will have one week to apply for a grade revision by arranging an appointment with the corresponding teachers.

d) Procedure for reassessment:

The Work Placement can not be reassessed.

e) Conditions for a 'Not assessable' grade:

Students will receive the grade 'Not assessable' instead of 'Fail' if they had not submited the material results of the practical work done during the Work Placement and if the supervisor's report does not prove that they completed the 300 hours of practical work.

f) UAB regulations on plagiarism and other irregularities in the assessment process:

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for thissubject.

Assessment acitivities with a zero grade because of irregularities can not be reassessed.

g) No Matrícula d’Honor grade is awarded due to the optional nature of this grade and the heterogeneity of this subject in the different degrees taught in the Faculty. The course Pràctiques Externes cannot be reassessed in the event that the student fails.

This subject/module does not incorporate single assessment.

For this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is permitted exclusively for support tasks. Students must clearly identify which parts have been generated with this technology, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final outcome of the activity. Non-transparency in the use of AI in this assessable activity will be considered a lack of academic honesty and may lead to a partial or total penalty in the activity's grade, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.

Bibliography

Not aplicable.

Software