Internship is now one of several offers in the development semester for undergraduate students at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MN). During their internships students will be tested on the skills and competences they have acquired through their studies. They will gain better insight into skills required in working life and the work experience will facilitate the transition from studies to working life.
Our aim is that the internship course will facilitate the students to gain relevant work experience during their studies and to make useful contacts when they are going into working life.
Kandidatundersøkelsen (The Candidate Study) shows that the students who first get a relevant job after finishing their degree are the ones who are able to explain their professional expertise. Internship courses are in demand by the business community, the Norwegian authorities and the students themselves. The pilot project is a follow-up to Report No. 16 (2016-2017) to the Norwegian Parliament Culture for Quality in Higher Education. In November 2018, Minister of Research and Higher Education Iselin Nybø also announced a new parliamentary report about the need for students to become more relevant for working life. By offering internships in the educational process, we meet this demand. The aim is to establish the internship course as a permanent offer for all undergraduate students at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
14 students in the pilot
Four departments participate in the pilot – Department of Biosciences, Department of Physics, Department of Mathematics and Department of Technology Systems. Undergraduate students have already applied for the internship courses – BIOS3050, FYS3820, MAT3055, TEK3100 – and 14 excited students will be able to test their professional skills with real employers this fall.
Several companies are engaged in the pilot. This coming fall our students will have internships at PwC Consulting, DNB, Norsk Regnesentral (Norwegian Computing Center), SINTEF Digital, Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), eDNA solutions AS in Göteborg, Sweden, and the Botanical Garden at the Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo.
Inspired by the Faculty of Social Sciences
The Faculty has over time worked to set up the internship course and has been inspired by the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences who have a well thought-out system for their internship course – simulating the process from job searching to the first employee interview.
The system is based on competition, which gives an extra nerve in the process because the companies choose their candidates based on the students CV, application and interviews. It is not necessarily the grades that are most important in this process. This gives the students a realistic experience of the process of applying for a job.
The Career Centre at the University of Oslo (Karrieresenteret) has played an important part for both faculties when establishing the internship courses.
See more information about the work place course.
For more information, please contact project leader Ina Hodneburg and Else Marie Lingaas