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Practicum III (BBA99008)

General information

Type:

OB

Curs:

3

Period:

S semester

ECTS Credits:

20 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group Teacher Department Language
Joan Noguera Ustrell Dirección de Personas y Organización ESP

Previous Knowledge

The Internship course is a key learning opportunity within the BBA curriculum for a number of reasons. Amongst these is the fact that, depending on the basis of the tasks the students perform in the company, they will be able to put into practice the knowledge acquired from the range of courses they have studied. Therefore, applying the knowledge required to carry out the responsibilities assigned to students by the companies will enable them to revise what has been learnt in the different courses studied up until then.

Workload distribution

The elements of the proposed workload for the Internship are set out below. 20 ECTS (500 hours of work) will be awarded on completion of the Internship, distributed as follows:

Hours dedicated to the professional component of the Internship: 450 hours within the company

Students may extend their work placement up to a total of 900 hours. However, this is voluntary. Therefore, as regards the learning assessment undertaken to award the Internship's 20 credits, the conclusion of the initial 450 hours is considered the end of the Internship. As of that time, students should undertake the relevant activities to conclude the course.

Hours dedicated to the academic component of the Internship: 50 hours

The approximate distribution of the hours dedicated to academic activities is as follows:
- Pre-Internship hours: 10 hours
- Independent study: 35 hours
- Tutorials with an academic tutor: 5 hours.

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM

The two dimensions of the Internship course involve work experience in conjunction with critical reflection on this professional activity. The Internship thus contributes to one of the aims of the undergraduate programme, namely, to train students to be both people and professionals capable of self-reflection and critical analysis of what occurs around them as well as the ways they can contribute to undertake their respective business activities.

Carrying out the different learning activities included as part of the academic track will contribute to develop the core educational elements of the BBA:
a) Foster students' self-organisation,
b) Learn about questions and problematic issues with full awareness of their complexity,
c) Apply the acquired knowledge to tasks related to real professional activity.

Course Learning Objectives

The general learning objectives of this course are that, upon completing the Internship, students are able to:
- Analyse the context of the work environment
- Analyse their own activity in the aforementioned context, while being aware of the way in which they have participated as well as their contribution (added value) that they have made to the professional activities undertaken.
- Explain what they have learnt, by making reference to the development of the chosen competences
- Self-manage their own development of the competences in order to become professionals who are conscious of their own strengths and areas for improvement, as well as being able to assess their own performance in the organisation in which they wish to pursue their professional career.

Competences

15. Comprehension of relational networks
11. Quality orientation and achievement
2. Application of knowledge to achieve results
4. Conveying information and/or knowledge
12. Autonomy, independence, initiative, pro-activeness
13. Adaptability, flexibility
14. Tenacity, persistence, constancy

Relation between Activities and Competences

15 11 2 4 12 13 14
Pre-Internship              
Preliminary analysis of the company and sector              
Learning agreement              
Learning journal              
Individual tutorials (follow-up of students' academic process)              
Internship report              
Evaluation by the company tutor              

CONTENT

1. Phase 0: Feedback and reflection on specific competences

Students will have received feedback on their own competences in all the courses and activities undertaken as part of the BBA programme. Students will have achieved an adequate or even optimum level in terms of these competences which they should continue to develop.

The Internship is an opportunity for students to choose three competences to develop further during their work placement in the company. These three competences will be included in the learning agreement that the students define with their academic tutor and company tutor. Over the course of the Internship, students will have to evaluate their progress with respect to these three chosen competences. This will be undertaken by completing the learning journals which they will submit to their academic tutors.

Prior to beginning the Internship, it is therefore very important that students take time to review and think about what they have learnt about themselves and their competences up until then. The feedback they will have received will be a basic component to undertake this critical reflection exercise. On the basis of this critical reflection, students will be in an ideal situation to choose the three competences that they wish to work on over the course of the Internship.

2. Phase 1: Pre-Internship

The Pre-Internship phase requires students to attend and participate in training sessions related to the search for professional work experience opportunities in the job market and to successfully undertake a selection process that will enable them to take up a work experience position in a company and thereby undertake the Internship.

These Pre-Internship training sessions are given by Career Services. They are compulsory and consist of several workshops during which students will learn how to write their CVs and letters of introduction to submit their candidacy for companies' selection processes. In addition, simulations of recruitment processes with real companies will be held on campus.

Upon completion of the Pre-Internship sessions students will be ready to begin their proactive search for work placements.

Once a work placement has been obtained, students must notify Career Services and apply for an educational cooperation agreement before the work placement starts (or submit a copy of the employment contract which must specify the Internship's requirements). ESADE will then assign an Academic Tutor to each student who will, in conjunction with the company tutor, monitor students' progress in the Internship.

3. Phase 2: Professional activities during the in-company work placement

ESADE believes that the professional activities undertaken as part of the Internship are clearly enhanced if, in addition to the effort made by students to fulfil their assigned roles to the highest levels of excellence, they are also capable of critically reflecting on their own activity and on the contexts in which it is undertaken. Once again, we stress here the difference between the two dimensions of the internship (business and academic) which the Internship's very design specifically includes as part of the students' learning experience.

The tasks involved in the two dimensions are as follows:

Business dimension: fulfilment of the responsibilities assigned by the company during a 450-hour period, following which time the internship will be considered to have ended (for further details on this issue, see "Workload distribution" in this guide).

Academic dimension: fulfilment of the tasks required to carry out a series of critical reflections on the professional experience in the company.

Relation between Activities and Contents

1 2 3
Pre-Internship      
Preliminary analysis of the company and sector      
Learning agreement      
Learning journal      
Individual tutorials (follow-up of students' academic process)      
Internship report      
Evaluation by the company tutor      

Methodology


ASSESSMENT

ASSESSMENT BREAKDOWN

Description %
Pre-Internship 15
Preliminary analysis of the company and sector 10
Learning journal 15
Individual tutorials (follow-up of students' academic process) 10
Internship report 25
Evaluation by the company tutor 25

Assessment criteria

The final mark is based on the following activities with their corresponding weights as detailed:

- Pre-Internship phase: 15%
- Prior studies on the company and the industry: 10%
- Learning journal: 15%
- Internship report: 25%
- Tutor's monitoring of the academic process: 10%
- Evaluation by the company tutor: 25%

Timetable and sections

Group Teacher Department
Joan Noguera Ustrell Dirección de Personas y Organización

Horari

Monday 2016/2/1 from 21:45 to 22:00.