Internships and thesis in a company/institution

Tirocinio

The internship is a period of training that enables students to obtain professional expertise through practical experience in a business.

Setting up an internship, therefore, may be an opportunity that is as attractive to the business. The advantages for companies, in fact, are multiple, from the possibility of getting to know candidates by observing them carry out projects in the field to acquiring creative ideas and innovative solutions, to remaining up-to-date with the latest trends in the sector, from training potential, full-time employees to promoting the company among people potentially looking for work.

Another training possibility for graduates is that of carrying out a thesis in a business on issues of interest to the activities of the latter and in line with the degree programme to which they belong. The thesis is not configured like an internship. Politecnico only releases, in fact, the insurance coverage to be able to undertake research activities at parties external to the university. Unlike the internship, this activity is not bound by the credit/hours ratio but is the fruit of an agreement between the student, supervisor, and business/organisation that agree to the time frames and methods for carrying out the research work.

 

Activity

Who 

Length 

Start 

Remuneration 
Curricular internship*

Students 

Depends on the number of CFUs in the degree programme (1 CFU equals 25 hours) 

Depends on the degree course 

Not mandatory 
Graduate Internship

Graduates 

Maximum 6 months 

Within 12 months of granting the qualification 

Minimum participation allowance stipulated by law  

*Starting from the a.y. 2023/2024, students enrolled in the Professional Bachelor's Degree Programme "Manufacturing industry technologies" will activate a new type of internship, called "pratico valutativo", with the same methods and in compliance with the same rules as for the traditional curricular internship in Italy.

 

    Have you already identified a student for a curricular internship or thesis in the company/institution or a graduate student for a postgraduate internship?

    • Yes:
      • To host students for THESIS, just register at this link. The rest of the procedure is the responsibility of the student. The compilation of the training project is not foreseen for this type of activity. Following the completion of the dedicated procedure, the University only issues the letter with the insurance coverage;
      • In order to host a student for a CURRICULAR INTERNSHIP (named "pratico valutativo" only for the professionalizing degree in Manufacturing industry technologies, enrollments from the a.y. 2023/2024)), it is advisable to check the procedures of the course of study of interest to find out when and how the activity will take place; then you can move on to Step 2;
      • In order to host a graduate student for a GRADUATE INTERNSHIP it is possible to go directly to Step 2.
    • No:
      • to contact students and graduates in order to propose an internship it is possible to activate one of the placement services available. Having identified the candidate, it is possible to move on to point 2.
      • to propose thesis topics, it is necessary to go through the intermediary of a faculty member at the University, consulting our course catalogue and the details of every course.

    To host interns, the following quotas are stipulated:  

    • operating units without employees, i.e. individual companies: 1 intern; 
    • operating units up to 5 employees: 1 intern;
    • operating units with a number of employees ranging between 6 and 20: no more than 2 interns at the same time; 
    • operating units with a number of employees greater than 20: interns of no more than 10% of the above-mentioned employees at the same time, with rounding to the higher unit. 

    In calculating the quota, permanent and temporary employees are calculated as long as the contract start date is prior to the start date of the internship and the end date after the end date of the internship. Partners that perform regular activities in the company, with relationships longer than one year and who receive compensation for the activity performed other than that of participating in the company’s administrative bodies, are also calculated. Apprentices, curricular interns, and thesis-writers are excluded from the calculation.

    Will the curricular or graduate internship take place in Italy?

    • Yes: go to step 3;
    • No: With regard to carrying out an internship abroad the process is different from an internship in Italy. To do an internship abroad, it is first necessary for the company/institution to accredit itself to the service by registering at this link.

      Following the accreditation request, the contact person of the company/institution that made the registration will receive a confirmation email, with a link to validate. After validation, he/she will receive the credentials to access the platform and will have to complete all required information and attach, in the section "Internship Agreement", a copy of the company registration report/certificate (officially translated into English) or, in its absence, a copy of the identification document of the legal representative or his/her representative in the section called "Request Internship Agreement". This serves as official recognition of the request by the company/institution, while it will not be used for any other aims.

      At the end of this procedure, the company/institution will appear in the list of host organizations and the student will be able to proceed to fill in online (tab "STAGE" of his personal page) the internship agreement necessary for the start of the internship abroad.

      Template Internship Agreement for Abroad (curricular) and a Template Internship Agreement for Abroad (postgraduate)

    In the case of curricular internships, there is no difference in the procedure by region, so you can go directly to step 4.

    In the case of post-graduate internships, will this take place in Piedmont or Lombardy?

    • Yes: go to point 4;
    • No: in this case the process is more articulated and it is necessary to send a request by writing to tirocini@polito.it at least one month before the planned start date in order to prepare the forms compatible with the relevant regional regulations.

    Is your business already affiliated with Politecnico so it can host interns?

    • Yes: go to point 5;
    • I don't know: to verify the existence of an agreement, you can write an email to tirocini@polito.it indicating the company name and VAT number of the company.
    • No: internships are activated within an AGREEMENT between Politecnico di Torino (sponsor) and business (host). 

    There are two possible agreements to enter into that depend on the type of internship to be activated:

    • the agreement for curricular internships with a five-year duration.
    • the agreement for post-degree internships with a two-year duration.

    It is possible to fill in the agreement in your business area - "Internship Agreement” Section. 

    There is an automatic procedure for recovering lost credentials by clicking here

    In case you have not yet registered, you can do so at this link.

    The Agreement must be digitally signed and uploaded within the appropriate section in the corporate area (detailed instructions in the process). The digital signature seals the document and for this reason it must be added last!

    The Agreement is subject to revenue stamp tax according to DPR n. 642/1972. The tax (€ 16.00 revenue stamp - to be paid by the employer except for Territorial Public Entities) may be paid through the application of a paper mark visible on the document and kept at the office of the employer or, alternatively, through the payment of a telematic mark indicating its details.

    The document will be registered as soon as possible. Once the agreement has been registered, it is possible to move on to point 5.

    To check whether an agreement exists, you can write an email to tirocini@polito.it indicating the company name and VAT no. of the business.

    Template for curricular agreement (only for consultation)

    Template for post-degree agreement in Piedmont (only for consultation)

    Template for post-degree agreement in Lombardy (only for consultation)

    Do not alter and send the templates! The agreement is generated by logging into the portal with your username.

    n.b.: In the case of Public Organisations, the signatures on the agreement document will need to be in digital format as per Legislative Decree no. 10 of 15 February 2002.

      To activate the internship, the future intern needs to fill in the Training Project on their personal PoliTO page, including the information agreed upon with the business.

      For curricular internships, the ending date indicated on the project will only be indicative. Any extensions (possible only for the achievement of the amount of hours foreseen by the training project) or transfers/site inspections will have to be indicated directly on the timesheet. The last day of the internship indicated on the timesheet will in fact be the new ending date (hypothetical during the approval of the training project). The internship may then end earlier or later than originally planned. In case of travel/site inspections, you will need to indicate the address and time of the same on the timesheet in order to ensure insurance coverage.

      At the following links, you can view a Template of a curricular Training Project and a Template of a post-degree Training Project

      Please note that the drafting of the document is the responsibility of the intern on their personal PoliTO page thanks to the content shared with the employer.

      It should be noted that, for post-degree internships activated with Politecnico and carried out in the Piedmont Region, you do not have to fill in the Training Project via the Piedmont Region Internships Portal, but you need to comply with the methods indicated by Politecnico di Torino on this page. The host Company/Institution must, in any case, ensure fulfilment of the mandatory communications via the Geco system, indicating the same data and, in particular, the same internship start and end dates, present in the training project.

      For post-degree internships carried out at a site mainly outside the Piedmont Region, you must submit the training project, duly signed, to the Job Placement Office at least 30 days before the internship start date. To resolve any doubts or for clarifications, write an email to tirocini@polito.it 

        The end of curricular internship documentation may vary according to the rules set by the course of study in which the intern is enrolled. It is therefore important for the student to inquire through the dedicated channels.

        Upon completion of a GRADUATE INTERNSHIP, the graduate student must:

        • send via ticket the duly completed attendance booklet for each day of activity, including the required signatures;
        • complete the experience evaluation questionnaire found in the "STAGE" section of your personal page by clicking on the internship file;
        • send by ticket to the office the certification of skills acquired form and the individual dossier available in item 8 of the online training project, completed and signed by the company and academic mentor.

          As part of these activities, Politecnico di Torino owns the rights to industrial use deriving from the inventions of its students, unless otherwise specified. The moral rights to the invention always belong to the inventors. If staff of the business or other external parties were involved, it is necessary to identify the share belonging to each.

          We invite you, therefore, to contact the office responsible for Research Enhancement at the email address: brevetti.spinoff@polito.it before the start of the activity. This office will be able to provide relevant consultancy and support and to manage possible joint ownership. 

          It is, in addition, possible to grant the business use rights via: 

          • a sale contract, the university definitively transfers the rights relating to a given technology to the company, upon payment of a fee; 
          • a licence contract, the university grants the business the rights to the economic use of the patent in return for an annual fee. The licence may be limited in terms of its duration (linked to the duration of the patent), its exclusivity (exclusive or non-exclusive licence), the region (global, European, or national), and the scope of use.

            Contatti

            For more information you can contact us by sending an email to tirocini@polito.it