Attendance
Apprenticeship
General Information on Internships
The following information applies to students enrolled in the degree programmes in Computer and Control Engineering (ordinamenti 270/04), Computer Systems Engineering (ordinamenti 270/04), and Computer Engineering (ordinamento 509).
Internships (also called placements) are carried out by students when foreseen by their study plan.[1]. In this case, they grant university credits (ECTS) in the amount indicated in the relevant academic regulations (for the 2019 and 2023 ordinamenti, this is always 6 ECTS). Even if not foreseen in the study plan, a student may carry out an internship as an activity supporting the final thesis/project (for further information, please contact the Internship Coordinator and/or the Final Thesis Coordinators).
Internships required by the study plan, or carried out for the purpose of the final thesis/project, are called curricular internships. It is also possible to activate post-graduate internships (also known as non-curricular internships or training and orientation internships) within 12 months of graduation. To activate this type of internship, the TSP portal must be used (for instructions on registering on the portal, see also point 1 below).
ACTIVATING AN INTERNSHIP
To identify and activate a curricular internship, students have the following options:
- Company Internship: The company internship is carried out at an external organisation (private or public) outside Sapienza, under the direct supervision of a tutor from the organisation (company tutor), and with the support of a Sapienza tutor (academic tutor). It involves carrying out activities aimed at achieving objectives defined by the external organisation, agreed with the student, and approved by the Programme Board (Consiglio d’Area Didattica). The activities are generally carried out at the premises of the external organisation or another location designated by it, and normally require full-time attendance (30 hours per week). To activate a company internship, the TSP portal must be used (which replaces the JobSoul portal used for internships activated up to June 2024), following the instructions for internship activation. When entering their curriculum on the portal, students must indicate the Faculty of Information Engineering, Computer Science, and Statistics and select their degree programme. If the programme is not listed in the pre-set menu, select “Other” and manually enter the Faculty and the exact name of the degree programme (before proceeding, verify the exact title on the Infostud system).
- Internal Project Equivalent to Internship: In this case, the internship is carried out directly under the supervision of a professor from the Faculty of Information Engineering, Computer Science, and Statistics, who acts as project supervisor. The project involves activities aimed at achieving objectives defined by the supervisor, agreed with the student, and approved by the Programme Board. Activities are carried out at a facility provided by the faculty (for internal projects with DIAG supervisors, activities are typically carried out within the department). To activate an internal project equivalent to an internship, the student must first contact professors to identify proposals of interest. The project duration, start, and end dates are defined by the supervising professor. To formalise the activation of the internal project, the student must send an email to the Teaching Office (segreteria didattica, segreteriadidattica@diag.uniroma1.it), copying the project supervisor, indicating: the project title, the name of the supervisor, the estimated start and end dates of the project, and whether it is also carried out for the purpose of the final thesis. The office will then inform the student of the assigned evaluator (see also the Final Thesis section below).
- External Project Equivalent to Internship: This type of internship is an option for students employed by an organisation (with a fixed-term or permanent contract). In this case, students can carry out the internship at their workplace. The internship objectives may partially or fully overlap with the tasks assigned by the organisation to its employee, provided they are approved by the Programme Board before the activities begin. As with company internships, this project requires a tutor from the organisation (company tutor) and a Sapienza tutor (academic tutor). The request to activate this type of internship must be made by the company using the AZ form, which must be sent via email to the Internship Coordinator from a company email address.
- Internships under Agreements between Sapienza and Institutional Bodies: These internships are carried out at institutional bodies external to Sapienza (e.g., ministries) within the framework of projects periodically made available by the University, which are advertised through channels such as the University website, faculty website, or degree programme website. As with company internships, this type requires a tutor from the host institution (company tutor) and a Sapienza tutor (academic tutor).
For internships indicated in points 1 and 4, activation occurs following the approval of a Training Project (Progetto Formativo). For point 1, approval is managed through the TSP portal; for point 4, it is managed through procedures defined within the specific agreement. In both cases, the host organisation must print the approved Training Project, signed and stamped by the organisation and signed by the student. The host must then email it to the Teaching Office (segreteriadidattica@diag.uniroma1.it) at least 7 days before the internship start date. The office will submit it for the signature of the Dean’s Delegate, Prof. Fabrizio D’Amore.
Note: To ensure timely approvals, it is essential to clearly specify the minimum objectives assigned to the intern, especially in terms of deliverables, and to clarify the type of contribution expected from the student (e.g., analysis, writing, functional specifications, development, testing, validation, performance evaluation, comparison, etc.) and the tools used.
MODIFYING OBJECTIVES DURING THE INTERNSHIP
If the host organisation, in agreement with the student, wishes to propose a change to the approved internship objectives, the request must be sent via email to the Internship Coordinator or the Teaching Office through an official communication from the external organisation.
CONCLUDING AN INTERNSHIP
Upon completion of the internship, the company tutor (for company internships, external projects equivalent to internships, or internships under institutional agreements) or the project supervisor (for internal projects) must complete an evaluation form (Form C) and send it confidentially, and specifically not via the student, to the Internship Coordinator by email.
FINAL THESIS
If the internship is carried out also (or solely) for the purpose of the final thesis, the student must prepare a report on the internship activities and make a presentation (approx. 20 minutes) to an evaluator. The evaluator will be the academic tutor if such a figure is foreseen (internships of types 1, 3, and 4). In the case of an internal project, the evaluator is appointed by the Programme Board and communicated to the student by the Teaching Office.
It is the student’s responsibility to contact the evaluator in good time to arrange a meeting.
After the presentation, the evaluator will submit an evaluation of the quality of the presentation and report to the Teaching Office using Form V.
Further details on the final thesis can be found on the Graduating page of this website.
INTERNSHIP COORDINATOR
The Internship Coordinator is Prof. Fabrizio D’Amore (damore@diag.uniroma1.it). The Coordinator oversees the approval of internship proposals, contacts with external organisations, the appointment of supervising professors, and all other matters relating to internships.
The Coordinator is available to provide information and clarifications; however, students are encouraged to carefully read the information available online and use the appropriate contact channels before reaching out directly. In particular, please do not request prior approvals.
FINAL THESIS COORDINATORS
The Final Thesis Coordinators are Prof. Antonella Poggi (poggi@diag.uniroma1.it) and Prof. Marco Console (console@diag.uniroma1.it). Before contacting the professors, students are invited to consult the Graduating page of this website, which contains useful information on the final thesis.
[1] For example, a study plan that includes the course AAF1044 (6 ECTS) or AAF1176 (6 ECTS). Please note that the course AAF1041 (3 ECTS), foreseen in the ordinamenti 270/04 prior to A.Y. 2013/14, does not require an additional curricular internship. Credits for this course are instead earned within the activities related to the final thesis.
Path of excellence
Honours programmes aim to enhance the knowledge and training of worthy students who are interested in broadening their knowledge with additional learning and cultural integration activities. Honours programmes provide additional educational activities besides those that are already part of the degree programme students are enrolled in. The credits students acquire with these activities cannot be validated to pursue other degrees at Sapienza University.
The admission process to honours programmes takes place at the end of the first year of the programme, and is requested by the student that must meet the admission requirements indicated below. Students in a honours programme will be assigned to a tutor with whom they will define the educational activity plan for the honours programme.
Erasmus students who spend part of their academic career in a foreign university and have access to an honours programme can do part of this programme in the host university.
How to apply:
Access procedures for the academic year 2024/25 are described in the call
https://web.uniroma1.it/trasparenza/dettaglio_bando/225373