Internships
Completing an internship is one of the optional components of your P&CS degree program.
Internships in, e.g., tech or media companies, NGOs, research centers, or social institutions provide students with the opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge and practical skills, to reflect on their wishes and ideas for career paths, and to gain exclusive insights and practical experiences. Thus, an internship may serve as an important step towards entering a profession.While it is possible to complete an internship at any time in the program, we strongly recommend not doing so during the first two semesters so that students can complete all foundational courses first. In general, we recommend completing internships during semester breaks rather than during semester times (see also below).
As part of the Philosophy & Computer Science program, internships of 2, 5, 8, or 12 weeks full-time equivalent can be credited (e.g., in order to be credited as 12 weeks internship, a half-day internship must last at least 24 weeks). Students must find an internship on their own and the eligibility of an internship for credit must be approved in advance by the examination board. To this end, this form must be filled in and submitted in the Philosophy & Computer Science E-Learning Course. If there is already an internship contract, this should be attached to the form, all in one pdf. As the examination board meets irregularly, the application should be submitted as early as possible (at least a month before starting the internship). Note that the creditability of an internship could be refused, especially if the examination board thinks that it could negatively affect a student's education.
An internship includes a final report of 4-6 A4 pages that critically reflects on what has been learned. In addition, a summary of the activities carried out of 1 to 2 pages must be written for each week of full-time equivalent internship. The final report and the weekly activity reports serve as the basis for the assessment of the internship and must be submitted together at the end of the internship period. Please submit everything in a single pdf file in the Philosophy & Computer Science E-Learning Course.
Important: Depending on the scope of an employment relationship, a student may lose certain tax and insurance benefits. To be on the safe side, an internship during the semester should not exceed 20 hours per week. Students may work more than 20 hours per week for a maximum of 26 weeks (or 182 calendar days) in the course of a year, provided they do so at weekends, in the evenings, at night, or during the semester break. Of course, losing certain tax and insurance benefits can be worthwhile in some cases, especially if the remuneration of the internship is high. What is never worth it, however, is the loss of the visa, which can also be caused by exceeding certain work limits. In general, students should inform themselves in detail about the legal framework if they are interested in an internship.
Students should also pay attention to certain wording in contracts; some organizations make the salary dependent on whether it is a compulsory internship. While the internship is voluntary in the degree program, it sometimes suffcies for it to be credited to count as compulsory as far as the company is concerned.