COURSE SYLLABUS
Internship in Business Administration, 15 credits
Internship in Business Administration, 15 högskolepoäng
Course Syllabus for students Spring 2020
Course Code: JIBN18
Confirmed by: Council for Undergraduate and Masters Education Sep 12, 2017
Valid From: Jun 11, 2018
Version: 2
Education Cycle: First-cycle level
Disciplinary domain: Social sciences
Subject group: FE1
Specialised in: G2F
Main field of study: Business Administration

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO)

On completion of the course the student will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

1. Account for, reflect on, and explain differences between practice and theory in business administration.

Skills and abilities

2. Independently identify a topic that is relevant for the student’s program studies, which can be studied in the internship organization and provide improved knowledge in the subject business administration.
3. Identify, collect, and combine a theoretical framework suitable to analyze a predefined topic of study in business
4. Thoroughly investigate a predefined topic of study in business administration by means of active organization participation and theoretical reflection.
5. Independently write an academic report, which combines theory and experiences from practice and derives useful conclusions for theory and practice.

Judgement and approach

6. Identify, analyze and critically discuss practical and theoretical implications associated with the internship with the aim to contribute in terms of knowledge in the field of business administration.

Contents

If suitable to their study profile and course portfolio, program students with a major in Business Administration are offered the possibility to do an internship in a business organization. For a 15 credit internship, the minimum time spent with an organization is 10 weeks equvilant to full time. Students themselves take the initiative to investigate their opportunity to take an internship course with a student counselor and locate an internship position.

The aim of the internship course is to facilitate increased in-depth learning within a predefined field of business administration. The internship position should offer an exclusive opportunity to study a topic in business administration. By applying theoretical knowledge to practical experiences, this internship course also provides a unique opportunity to reflect on the variations between theory and practice and the value of combining them to gain valuable knowledge and skills for a careeer in business administration.
Students must be enrolled in the internship course before they can start an internship. Before a student can be enrolled in the internship course, the internship position and the topic of study must be approved by the course examiner.

Ex-ante check-list for students interested in doing an internship:
1. Meet with your study counsellor to see if you are eligible for doing an internship course.
2. Identify and contact an organization suitable for your internship.
3. Get permission from the company to do an internship in the organization.
4. Get the organization to appoint an internship responsible and craft an internship work description.
5. Send the organization’s work description plus information regarding a contact person to the course examiner and meet with the examiner to discuss the internship position.
6. The course examiner will then either accept your internship or ask you to go back to the firm to discuss the work content you are supposed to do. Once the internship is accepted, you can start.

Type of instruction

To fulfill the academic requirements of the internship, each student should submit the following reports:

Field note reflections: During the time of the internship each student should take field notes about specific things they observe or experience related to business administration (not limited to your chosen area and topic of internship study). Drawing on these field notes students should reflect on how practice mirrors what they have studied in previous courses. Students should submit four such reflections to their internship teacher during the internship.

An internship report: During and related to the internship, each student should write a report with the aim of analyzing and generating new insights related to a predefined topic in the area of business administration. To facilitate a relevant frame of reference and thorough analyses, students should identify and study research-based literature (at least 2 books and 20 articles, or 30 articles). Discussion about literature should be held with the teacher before writing the report


The report should fulfil the scientific standards required by JIBS. The report should be 4000 words long (excluding references and appendix) and contain the following:
1) Introduction that presents the topic and questions in focus during your internship.
2) A summary of previous and relevant research (based on the literature requirements)
3) Presentation of observations/experiences/discussions (etc) in practice combined with critical discussion and analyses (including references to previous research).
4) Conclusions and recommendations for theory and practice.
5) List of references
6) Appendix 1: Description of the internship organization
7) Appendix 2: Description of the work conducted in the organization

The teaching is conducted in English.

Prerequisites

60 Credits in Business Administration (or the equivalent).

Examination and grades

The course is graded Fail (U) or Pass (G).

The ILOs are examined according to below:

Registration of examination:
Name of the TestValueGrading
Written assignment115 creditsU/G
1 All parts of the compulsory examination in the course must be passed with a passing grade (A-E ) before a final grade can be set. The final grade of the course is determined by the sum total of points for all parts of the examination in the course (0-100 points). Grade is set in accordance to JIBS grading policy.(A-E or Pass)

Course evaluation

It is the responsibility of the examiner to ensure that each course is evaluated. At the outset of the course, evaluators must be identified (elected) among the students. The course evaluation is carried out continuously as well as at the end of the course. On the completion of the course the course evaluators and course examiner discuss the course evaluation and possible improvements. A summary report is created and archived. The reports are followed up by program directors and discussed in program groups and with relevant others (depending on issue e.g. Associate Dean of Education, Associate Dean of faculty, Director of PhD Candidates, Dean and Director of Studies). The next time the course runs, students should be informed of any measures taken to improve the course based on the previous course evaluation.

Other information

The credits from this course can only be used as elective credits and cannot be included in the major.

Academic integrity
JIBS students are expected to maintain a strong academic integrity. This implies to behave within the boundaries of academic rules and expectations relating to all types of teaching and examination.
Copying someone else’s work is a particularly serious offence and can lead to disciplinary action. When you copy someone else’s work, you are plagiarizing. You must not copy sections of work (such as paragraphs, diagrams, tables and words) from any other person, including another student or any other author. Cutting and pasting is a clear example of plagiarism. There is a workshop and online resources to assist you in not plagiarizing called the Interactive Anti-Plagiarism Guide.
Other forms of breaking academic integrity include (but are not limited to) adding your name to a project you did not work on (or allowing someone to add their name), cheating on an examination, helping other students to cheat and submitting other students work as your own, and using non-allowed electronic equipment during an examination. All of these make you liable to disciplinary action.

Course literature

Literature

Preliminary literature should be suggested by the student and discussed with the internship teacher before writing the report. The literature applied should be relevant for the internship focus and include at least twenty (20) scientific articles and two (2) textbooks, or 30 articles. This minimum requirement refers to literature beyond the literature students have studied in previous JIBS courses. Literature from previous courses can be used.