Internships and placements
The internship activities of the master’s degree Course in Sustainable Cultural and Nature-based Tourism Planning LM-49 are regulated by a special Commission made up of the following professors:
President: Professor Eleonora Pappalardo
Professor: Prof. Cinzia Recca
Professor: Prof. Gaetano Ortolano
The internship hours required by the current study plan are 325, equal to 13 CFU, distributed between the first and second year (each CFU of internship is equivalent to 25 hours).
- Internal or training and orientation internship -> 1 credit (1st year/ UAF )
- External internship or traineeship -> 12 credits (2nd year) = 300 hours
Internal internship hours, or training and orientation hours, may be accumulated through participation in seminars, workshops, conferences, scientific initiatives, etc., specifically organized by the instructors (spread throughout the first and second semesters) and approved by the Internship Committee. Attendance at seminars must be recorded by the student on the dedicated summary sheet for internal internship hours , accompanied by the appropriate reports for each event attended. Students must submit the documentation to the Internship Office in order to register for external training activities, also attaching a self-certification of exam certification certifying achievement of 40 credits.
- The external internship consists of 300 hours , to be completed in the second year at affiliated institutions that offer services consistent with the degree program. Only students who have earned at least 40 credits and submitted the required enrolment documents may participate in external internships.
A curricular internship is a temporary practical experience that a student undertakes at a company, institution, professional firm, or other organization. It is an experience during which students put their acquired knowledge into practice. The internship experience complements and completes university education with the aim of "facilitating career choices through direct exposure to the world of work, creating opportunities for alternating study and work" (Ministerial Decree 142/98).
The internship will be conducted according to the curriculum established for the year of enrolment (cohort). Students will be admitted to the start of the activities upon submitting an application to the Department's Internship Office. This application must be sent to disfor.tirocinio@unict.it . The application must contain a low-resolution PDF file containing the application form (available in the internship section of your degree program), a statement of subjects taken (available in the Student-Certifications portal), and a summary of the hours of internal internship (available in the internship section of your degree program), along with all reports attached.
Practical activities and external training activities must be supervised by internal tutors from the Department (didactic tutor) and tutors located in the professional environments to which the activities relate (industry experts) (company tutor). The internship hours must be recorded in a special register , which must be completed in full and signed by the student and their respective tutors. For the purposes of evaluating the internship experience, the intern will produce a final report (Guide for Completing the Final Report) .
As part of ongoing activity monitoring, the following customer satisfaction questionnaires are also planned: Internship Monitoring (by the company tutor) and Internship Evaluation Questionnaire (by the intern) , both of which are to be submitted to the Internship Office. Please note that completing these questionnaires is mandatory.
Affiliated bodies:
To choose the institutions where they will carry out external internship training activities, students must:
- Publish your resume on SmartEdu.
- During the periods established by the Degree Course, students can submit their application to institutions via SmartEdu via the internship offers section or apply for any accredited institution in the system. The host institution will accept the internship application and assign the training project, which must be approved by an academic tutor (member of the internship committee). Students can monitor their progress through the student portal . ( Click here to download the guide for web navigation within the student portal.)
Halfway through the internship, the student must update his/her tutor on the work done up to that point by email or by going to the office.
Activate a Curricular Internship
Companies wishing to offer curricular internships to students at the University of Catania must connect to the following website to sign the curricular internship agreement: https://aziende.smartedu.unict.it/, a dedicated portal for accreditation, managing internship offers, and monitoring applications. (Click here to download the guide for navigating the company portal, created by the first company to be accredited on the Unict internship portal.)
The company/institution representative, after registering as an individual, can enter the company details they represent through the subsequent steps. After entering the company details, they can proceed with the online accreditation request, including the required attachments. Once accredited by UniCT, the company/institution can proceed with the request for the curricular internship agreement and submit the required documentation directly through the portal.
For any difficulties during the registration phase, companies/organizations can contact:
- Evelina Caltabiano 095/7537571 - ecaltabi@unict.it
- Loredana Granata 3392921875 - loredana.granata@unict.it
Reservations for the start of the external internship
Reservations for the start of the external internship must be made through the Studium platform ( internship code 1000982 ) specifying in the notes two internship locations chosen in order of preference (aware that preferences may not always be satisfied) and the remaining CFU in the following periods:
from 1 to 15 January - internships to be carried out in the period February/May
from 1 to 15 May - internships to be carried out in the period June/September
from 1 to 15 September - internships to be carried out in the period October/January
NB: Graduating students may undertake internships throughout the academic year. Graduating students are those who, at the beginning of the new academic year, have no more than 30 credits remaining for their degree, including credits for the final exam.
Interruption of Internship Activities
In the presence of serious personal reasons or for other justified and explicit reasons, the internship may be interrupted and/or suspended at any time upon request (subject to the scrutiny of the Internship Commission) by the University or the Host Organization or the student, via written communication to the other party.
Requests for validation of activities carried out outside the curricular internship valid for the purposes of the internship
It is possible to forward to the Internship Commission a request for validation of a percentage (10-70%) of the external internship hours ( validation form ) carried out at external institutions in the tourism sector, upon presentation of documentation certifying the congruence between the training objectives of the activities carried out and the professional profiles resulting from the course of study.
Registration of internship activities (1 credit)
Registration of internships will be conducted periodically during specific exam sessions scheduled by the program president, which can be viewed on the following page .
If the internship has not been booked and the final documentation has not been submitted to the Internship Office, the program president will not proceed with the electronic registration. Students do not need to be present at the time of registration (they must, however, have previously submitted the final documentation to the Internship Office).
Recording of Internship Activities (12 credits). Upon completion of the internship, students must write a report describing the activities undertaken, any difficulties encountered, and what they learned from the experience, along with the internship questionnaire. The report must be reviewed and approved by the company tutor, who will upload it to SmartEdu along with the attendance register, complete with the midterm exam signed by the academic tutor. Recording will be done periodically by the Degree Programme President. Graduating students must complete the internship with an online questionnaire at least 10 working days before the exam registration deadline for their respective degree session.
The student's presence is not required for the registration process. The system will send a notification email, and it is possible to verify the internship registration on the portal.
For a detailed guide to the computerized internship procedure via SmartEdu, see the Student Guide link
Internship Office Hours:
- Monday - Tuesday - Thursday - Friday 10.00 - 12.00
- Thursday 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
- Closed to the public on Wednesdays
Internship Office Contact Details:
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e-mail: disfor.tirocinio@unict.it |
Contact persons
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Dr. Carmelo ZAPPALA' |
