Internship

Through participation in the daily operations of a development/government/research organization, student will experience, develop understanding of, and reflect critically on professional/academic practices. The student will perform relevant research and/or policy relevant work under the guidance of experienced researchers, analysts, and mentors in the host institution, performing duties agreed to in an Internship Agreement. As part of the internship, time will be set aside with the internship mentor at the host institution for discussions about the student's experiences, and the institution's experiences with the student.

Students apply for internships at our partner institutions. Currently, our partner institutions includes Bergen Kommune, CMI (Chr. Michelsen Institute), HK-dir (Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills), NORCE, NORAD, The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights, Veyt Carbon and UN Global Compact.

A student who has completed the course should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence.

Knowledge

The student:

• Can integrate theoretical and methodological knowledge with work-life challenges and practices.

Skills

The student has:

• The ability to apply relevant scientific methods and theories in practice.
• The ability to combine theory with experiential learning, and reflect on the relationship between theory and practice.
• The ability to plan and carry out complex tasks and projects in the internship organization, and to reflect critically on performance and choices made.
• The ability to demonstrate the academic and personal skills required to reflect upon professional experiences in an ethical and socially responsible manner.

General competence

The student:

• Is able to enhance one's own professional competency based on reflection over self-assessed and mentor-assessed performance.
• Is able to critically reflect on political science perspectives and theories when faced with practical challenges.
• Is able to reflect on how the host institution benefited from the students existing competences, and explain how the internship has developed those competences further.