DBSV Internship Office

Any student wishing to begin their curricular (internal) internship must:

• Complete the Internship Start Request Form – Thesis Entry (see attachment in the section of your degree program), in collaboration with their academic supervisor. The form must clearly state the proposed learning objectives and the start and end dates of the internship period.
• Submit the completed form to the Internship Committee of their degree program for the official activation of the internship.

Mobile Internal Internships:
If the internship involves travel to facilities outside the university, in order to ensure insurance coverage during such movements, the academic supervisor must send an official authorization to the contact person at the external facility, with a copy to the Internship Office (stagedbsv@uninsubria.it) and the relevant Internship Committee.

There is no requirement to fill out an attendance register.

Once the internship activity is completed, the student must:

• Register for the exam session of the course titled FORMATIVE INTERNSHIP / CURRICULAR TRAINEESHIP available on the ESSE3 platform notice board. (This does not apply to BIOSOS students.)
• Complete the Internship Completion Form – Final Report together with their academic supervisor (see attachment in the section of their degree program) and send it by email to the Internship Committee of their degree program before the date of the registered exam session for the FORMATIVE INTERNSHIP / CURRICULAR TRAINEESHIP.

Please note: Students enrolled in the Double Degree program or participating in the Erasmus+ Traineeship program should NOT register for the exam session on the ESSE3 notice board.

The Department has established agreements with companies, foundations, and public institutions that students can contact to carry out their practical training period. The list of these companies and organizations is available in the file provided in this section and is regularly updated (for more information, please contact the DBSV Internship Office).

Students may also propose to complete their internship at a company not included in the list. In this case, they must contact the DBSV Internship Office to verify the possibility of activating a new agreement.

Any student wishing to activate their external curricular internship must:

1. Check the requirements: Verify whether the degree program has any minimum requirements for internships. If no specific requirements are stated, students are still encouraged to consult their program’s Internship Committee.
2. Register on AlmaLaurea: Log in to the Student Services Web Portal and sign up for the placement services to view and apply for available internship offers. Use only your institutional university email address.
3. Find a host organization: Identify a company or institution where the internship will take place, either independently or from the available offers.
4. Fill out the Internship Start Request Form – Thesis Entry: (see the attachment in your degree program’s section) in collaboration with the company tutor, specifying the objectives and duration of the internship.
5. Submit the completed form with the learning objectives and planned activities agreed upon with the host organization to the relevant Internship Committee by sending the request to: stagedbsv@uninsubria.it. The Committee will review the project and assign an academic supervisor.
6. Check whether the host organization is registered on the university’s Placement Portal. If not, the student must send the registration instructions (see attachment below) to the host organization, allowing them to initiate a new agreement (if needed) and submit the internship training project.
7. Once the Internship Committee has approved the project (in the portal, this will appear as “approved but not active”), the host organization will be asked to print the required documents, sign them, and hand them to the student. The student must then submit the signed documents to the Internship Office for the official activation of the internship.
8. In case of changes to the agreement, or for internships outside Lombardy, contact the Internship Office at: stagedbsv@uninsubria.it.
9. For internships in Switzerland or abroad, a Training Agreement will be required (in place of the standard agreement). Please contact the Internship Office at: stagedbsv@uninsubria.it.

During the curricular internship, the student must:

1. Fill out the attendance register, which can be downloaded from their personal AlmaLaurea page.
2. Contact their academic-organizational tutor halfway through the internship to provide an update on the progress of the activities.

If necessary, in the event of:

• an extension of the internship beyond the date indicated in the training agreement;
• a temporary suspension of the internship for any reason;
• an early termination of the internship (e.g., upon completion of the required number of hours),

the student must promptly inform the host organization, which will submit the request through the online system by accessing the internship “details” and selecting the appropriate action.

Once the internship has been completed, the student must:

1. Have the attendance register signed by the company tutor.
2. Request the joint internship report to be completed by the company tutor (the form can be downloaded from the student’s AlmaLaurea page) and have it signed also by the academic tutor.
3. Complete their online evaluation questionnaire on the AlmaLaurea platform and ensure that the host company/institution does the same (printing the questionnaires is not required).
4. Submit by email to the Internship Office (stagedbsv@uninsubria.it) and to the Internship Committee:
   • the Internship Completion Form (see the attachment in the section of your degree program),
   • along with the joint report and the attendance register, all of which can be downloaded from AlmaLaurea.
     Upon submission of the documentation, the student will receive a confirmation receipt certifying the regular completion of the internship.
5. Register for the INTERNSHIP or CURRICULAR TRAINEESHIP session on the ESSE3 platform. (This step does not apply to BIOSOS students.)

Please note:
Students enrolled in a Double Degree program or participating in the Erasmus+ Traineeship program must NOT register for the exam session of the FORMATIVE INTERNSHIP or CURRICULAR TRAINEESHIP on the ESSE3 notice board.

In the third year of the program, students are required to complete a formative internship in a laboratory, where they will carry out qualified practical work related to the biotechnological topics covered in the degree course. Laboratory activities are a key component for developing technical skills and provide an important opportunity to learn how to design experimental plans and gain hands-on experience in biotechnology.

The internship involves experimental activities and awards 9 ECTS credits, corresponding to a minimum of 225 hours of full-time work in the laboratory. It also includes the preparation of a written report on the experimental activity (maximum 20 pages), which is an integral part of the internship and must be presented publicly during the final degree examination.

Internships can be:

• Internal, if carried out in a university laboratory.
• External, if carried out in laboratories of external institutions or companies that have an agreement with the University.

All internship proposals are subject to approval by the Degree Program Board, which—based on the opinion of the Internship and Placement Committee—assesses the coherence and suitability of the internship project with the program’s learning objectives. The student is assigned an academic supervisor (internal tutor) by the Board.

• To activate internal internships, students must send their curricular internship request to the Internship Committee (see email addresses below).
• To activate external internships, students must contact the DBSV Internship Office.
• For further information, students may contact the Internship Committee:

📧 luciano.piubelli@uninsubria.it
📧 antonino.diiorio@uninsubria.it
📧 genciana.terova@uninsubria.it

As part of the Bachelor's Degree Program in Biological Sciences, the internship may consist of either an experimental activity or a theoretical-analytical activity, in the form of a compilation thesis. The internship awards 8 ECTS credits, corresponding to a minimum of 200 hours of practical laboratory work over a period of at least two months.

At the end of an experimental internship, students must prepare a summary of the activities carried out and a PowerPoint presentation (pptx).
In the case of a compilation thesis, students must write a report of approximately 15 pages and prepare a PowerPoint presentation (pptx) on a scientific topic agreed upon with their internal tutor.

The internship proposal must be approved by the Degree Program Board, which will also assess the coherence and adequacy of the project with respect to the specific learning objectives of the program.

• To activate internal internships, students must submit the internship/thesis entry request to the Internship Committee (see email addresses below).
• To activate external internships, students must contact the DBSV Internship Office.
• For further information or to submit the required documents, please write to:

📧 roberto.papait@uninsubria.it
📧 marzia.gariboldi@uninsubria.it

The final exam required to obtain the MSc degree consists in the preparation and discussion of a written report in English, based on experimental biomedical research carried out by the student under the supervision of an academic tutor. The research activity may be conducted in a university laboratory or in an external research center, provided that the institution has a formal agreement with the University.

• To activate external internships, students must contact the DBSV Internship Office.
• For further information, students may contact the Internship Committee:

📧 c.kilstrup-nielsen@uninsubria.it
📧 erica.zamberletti@uninsubria.it

Within the Master’s Degree Program in Biotechnology For The Bio-Based And Health Industry, the internship involves experimental activities and awards 30 ECTS credits, corresponding to a minimum of 750 hours. The internship period, during which the thesis is prepared, must be both qualitatively and quantitatively adequate to achieve the goals of a Master’s level internship in the biotechnological field.

Typically, a minimum duration of 9 months is considered appropriate, assuming a weekly attendance of 30-40 hours. It is the responsibility of the University Tutor, together with the External Tutor (when present), to assess whether the student’s work is sufficient to support the preparation of the thesis.

Students participating in the Double Degree program (enrolled either at the University of Insubria or at the University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague - UTC) undertake their internal curricular internship at the university where they completed their second year and defend their thesis at their home university.

Access to internships requires students to have passed all first-year exams.

• For internal internships, students must complete the Request Form and send it to the Internship Committee (see emails below).
• If the internship is to be carried out at an external institution, prior authorization from the Degree Program Board is required, following the opinion of the Internship and Placement Committee. The student must contact the DBSV Internship Office.
• Approval is subject to the scientific relevance and biotechnological nature of the proposed project.
• The student will be assigned a thesis supervisor (a faculty member affiliated with the Department, preferably from the Degree Program Board).

For further information, students may contact the Internship Committee:

📧 genciana.terova@uninsubria.it
📧 luciano.piubello@uninsubria.it
📧 antonino.diiorio@uninsubria.it

The Master’s Degree Program in Biology and Sustainability includes an internship for the preparation of the thesis and the final exam, which together correspond to 27 ECTS credits, equivalent to at least 675 hours. The internship is an experimental activity typically carried out over a suitable period of at least 8 months, not necessarily consecutive, with a weekly commitment of about 30 hours, conducted in the laboratory and/or in the field.

In any case, the internship period must be both qualitatively and quantitatively adequate to achieve the objectives necessary for preparing a Master’s thesis focused on environmental sustainability within the biological field. It is the responsibility of the University Tutor, together with the External Tutor when applicable, to assess the adequacy of the experimental activity carried out by the intern for the purpose of thesis preparation.

• Internal internships are carried out under the supervision of a University Tutor (a faculty member from the Degree Program or University), usually within University facilities. To access an internal internship, students must complete the Internship Request Form and submit it to the Internship and Placement Committee (see contacts below).
• External internships take place at institutions outside the University, provided they have an agreement with the University. These are supervised by an External Tutor, the contact person at the hosting institution. The scientific project of the internship must be approved in advance by the Degree Program Board, upon recommendation from the Internship and Placement Committee. Approval depends on the project’s relevance to environmental sustainability in the biological field. In addition to the External Tutor, the intern will be assigned a University Tutor (a faculty member of the Degree Program, preferably affiliated with DBSV or DiSTA).

To access an external internship, students must contact the DBSV Internship Office and, together with the External Tutor, complete the Internship Request Form and submit it to the Internship and Placement Committee for evaluation. If approved, the DBSV Internship Office will activate the internship.

At the end of the experimental internship, it is necessary to complete the Internship Completion Form and submit it to the Internship and Placement Committee.

For further information, please visit the DBSV Internship Office webpage or contact the Internship and Placement Committee:

📧 roberto.papait@uninsubria.it
📧 antonino.diiorio@uninsubria.it
📧 maurizio.brivio@uninsubria.it

The University offers the opportunity to carry out internships abroad either by participating in Erasmus+ Traineeship programs or as a Free Mover student.

The Erasmus+ Traineeship mobility program allows university students to undertake a training internship at a company or institution in one of the European countries participating in the program. Mobility is possible for every degree cycle, with a minimum duration of 2 months and a maximum of 12 months. Students are selected through an annual public call.

For more information, visit the Erasmus+ Traineeship page.

PLEASE NOTE: Students enrolled in the Double Degree program or participating in the Erasmus+ Traineeship program SHOULD NOT register for the TIROCINIO FORMATIVO or CURRICULAR TRAINEESHIP exam call on the ESSE3 notice board.

Free Mover students do not take part in an exchange program organized by the University, such as Erasmus+. Instead, they independently arrange a study period abroad — choosing their own destination — and personally handle all aspects of organizing their stay abroad. Afterwards, they can apply for recognition of the period completed abroad.

For more information, visit the Free Mover page.