Internships

Industry Requirements

We will consult with you in developing your internship opportunities and can advise on timelines, fit, and how best to reach your talent acquisition goals. Whether it’s increasing diversity or seeking hard-to-find skill sets, our team has a wealth of industry experience to develop the best solutions. Below our outlines for what is required from a host company.

• Time Commitment
  • Runs during semester period for 10-12 weeks
  • Minimum of 90 hours during a semester period
  • If unpaid, we advise a maximum of  14 hours per week
• Host Requirements
  • Must provide a supportive and inclusive learning environment
  • Must assign an experienced supervisor in the relevant disciplinary/professional field (a supervisor should not be the intern’s immediate family member or a relative)
  • Must commit to safe work practices to ensure the intern’s well-being
• Supervision Expectations
  • Define tasks and expectations clearly
  • Provide learning support and regular feedback
  • Offer various learning opportunities including exposure to internal and/or external networks
  • Support the intern to demonstrate learning in university assignments, including reviewing their internship plan, signing off a timesheet, and provide formal feedback in the end of the internship
• Remuneration and Insurance
  • Internships can be either paid or unpaid.
  • Unpaid internships: Students are covered comprehensively against accident or injury under the University’s student insurance policy. The University maintains Public Liability and Professional Indemnity Insurance that covers any liability of the University and the students in relation to the placement.
• Placement Agreement
  • A formal placement letter agreement must be signed by relevant University staff and an authorised signatory of host organisation. The placement letter   agreements have been written to ensure they cover key legal terms in respect of the placement, as well as capturing key operational matters.
  • Host organisations are also expected to maintain appropriate Public Liability insurance.
  • Host organisations should familiarise themselves with the Fair Work Act regarding internships
• Intellectual Property and Privacy
  • Host organisations continue to own any pre-existing intellectual property made available for use by University staff or students during a placement. Such pre-existing intellectual property is made available for the sole purpose and duration of the placement.
  • As mandated by Australian legislation, University of Melbourne staff and students must ensure the non-disclosure of Host organisation's confidential information, accessed during the period of the Placement. This is further detailed in the placement letter agreement.

What's Next?

So you've secured an intern, Congratulations! But what do I do now?

• Subject Design

  The subject is designed for students to:

  • Enhance industry/disciplinary knowledge and skills, workplace skills, and career planning through practice and reflection
  • Enhance professional communication and interpersonal skills to establish collegial working relationships and build professional networks.
  • Enhance self-directed and self-regulated learning competence.
• Student Requirements

  To pass the subject, a student is required to:

  1. Engage in a 90-hour minimum placement in their field of study - evidenced by a signed timesheet.
  2. Complete three academic assessments:
     1. Develop  a Learning plan that includes four to five learning goals, and a list of learning activities encompassing a mix of internship tasks and other professional engagement activities. The plan must be reviewed and agreed by their host supervisor.
     2. Complete Learning reflections on their engagement in the planned activities. By the end of their internship, organise a performance review to seek supervisor feedback.
     3. Complete a self-recorded Mock Interview showcasing their internship learning insights. No supervisor involvement needed.

  Note: Academics will evaluate a student’s learning based on the above assessments. Host supervisors may be consulted where needed for feedback on the student's industry performance.

• Expectations of Host Supervisor
  • Review the intern’s Learning Plan (Assessment 1) to ensure the plan is feasible and reflecting assigned internship tasks correctly.
  • Provide regular feedback and formal or informal learning opportunities e.g. job shadowing and sitting in client meetings.
  • Contact the FBE Internship Support (FBE-internships@unimelb.edu.au) as soon as possible if you have any concerns for supporting the intern’s learning experience.
  • Provide formal feedback to the intern by the end of the internship (Part of Assessment 2). The student will record feedback using a templated provided by academics.
  • Sign off a timesheet by the end of the internship.
• Pre-Internship Commencement

  Prior to your intern starting, please ensure that you:

  • Contact your intern a minimum of one week before commencement to clarify their working days and hours, office location and provide details of who to contact if they have any questions in the lead up to their internship.
  • Arrange an arrival time, meeting place and who to contact when they arrive for their first day.
  • For in-office internships, arrange office access where needed, workstation and required equipment (inform the intern if they need to bring their laptop or any other equipment needed).
  • Arrange digital access to required working platforms and software tools e g. Google Drive.
  • Assign a work buddy or peer mentor where possible to support them throughout their internship.
• First Day
  • Provide a workplace induction e.g. introduction to the organisation, workplace culture and key emergency and OH&S procedures.
  • Introduce them to team members and their buddy or peer mentor.
  • Clarify internship roles and responsibilities.
  • Re-iterate expectations e.g. working hours, professional code of conduct and business confidentiality in assessments,
  • Plan out other learning engagement activities e.g. formal and informal trainings, job shadowing, exposure to relevant projects and meetings.
  • For remote internships: establish communication channels, check-in frequency, and interaction protocols.
• First Two Weeks
  • Review the intern’s Learning Plan to ensure the plan is feasible and reflecting assigned internship tasks correctly. NOTE: this is a requirement for their subject assessment.
• During Program
  • Ensure your intern has adequate tasks to complete throughout the internship
  • Provide on-the-job training and continuous feedback
  • Respond to University’s mid-placement email with any updates, questions or any concerns you encounter
  • Support your interns’ completion of academic assessments for demonstrating learning (e.g. reviewing their learning plan, providing performance feedback and signing timesheet)
• Final Week
  • Arrange and complete a performance review to provide your intern feedback on their engagement and performance in the planned activities by the end of their internship. NOTE: this is a requirement for their subject assessment.
  • Sign off on the intern’s timesheet. NOTE: this is a requirement for their subject assessment.
  • Facilitate handover of the intern’s work
  • Provide a recommendation/referee letter if applicable.
• Support

  We are available for support throughout the entire internship period. If you have any questions, issues or concerns during the internship, please contact us at fbe-internships@unimelb.edu.au

• Responses to Special Circumstances

  Situation	Response
  Interns need to take time off due to exams, sickness, or other commitments.	If your intern will not meet the 90-hour minimum, arrange to make up the hours at an agreed time, or extend the internship finishing date. Otherwise, it is at your discretion whether the intern needs to make up for the lost time.
  Intern is arranged to travel interstate/overseas as part of their internship.	Please give as much notice as possible. Interns will need to register for the University’s travel insurance 4 weeks prior to travelling.
  Extending internship	Contact us at fbe-internships@unimelb.edu.au
  Hiring intern post-internship