The Internship Program constitutes an experiential learning process. Its objective within higher education is to establish a link between academic education and the professional environment students are expected to encounter in the labor market upon completing their degree.
An internship is a short-term practical training course for future professionals under real working conditions. It offers them a glimpse of their future careers. Contemporary research refers to this process using various terms, such as Internship, professional practice, vocational practice, and workplace practice — all of which essentially convey the same core concept.
As a learning process, it allows students to apply their theoretical and scientific knowledge in practice, consolidate it more effectively, and develop questions or identify weaknesses that need improvement to meet professional requirements better.
Moreover, it enables students to understand each profession's core principles, values, and philosophy. It immerses them in the real-world setting of their future workplace — a space where they will be expected to apply their academic knowledge — and allows them to refine and demonstrate their professional skills.
Furthermore, it provides students with valuable experience in teamwork, enables them to confront real-world scenarios, and fosters a sense of responsibility through their initial engagement with professional practice. It also allows them to come into contact with real social challenges, raising their awareness of the role they are expected to play in addressing such issues.
Finally, it serves as an exercise in personal responsibility and consistency. Students are required to follow the structured timeline for completing the assigned tasks, but it also allows them to take initiative in ways that reflect their abilities and skills.
In such an environment, students gain self-awareness, recognize their limits of endurance, and are encouraged to challenge themselves to exert greater effort.
Internships often serve as the foundation —or even the launching point—for students' professional integration. This dimension is also reflected in other European internship programs, such as ERASMUS+, which incorporates and emphasizes student internships across Europe.
The key stakeholders in the educational process of the Internship are the intern, the host organization, its supervisor, and the university school, represented by a faculty supervisor who is a teaching and research staff member.
The benefits of this process extend beyond the interns themselves, offering multiple advantages for the other two key stakeholders.
Host organizations can benefit from young individuals' knowledge, skills, and fresh ideas while also gaining the opportunity to identify and potentially recruit a future collaborator.
Finally, each University School benefits from the two-way exchange of information between academia and the productive sector. This interaction enables the adjustment and modernization of academic curricula, ensuring they remain aligned with current market trends.
The critical role of the Internship in the comprehensive education of students, in the modernization of university schools, and in the improvement of host organizations highlights the need for sustainability, namely, its continuous implementation and enhancement.
The Internship's sustainability largely depends on its funding.
The non-negotiable expenses that must be covered in the context of the Internship process include:
- Insurance coverage for the intern in case of an accident at the placement site
- Operational costs related to the University's support and administration of the Internship
- Compensation for the intern
Furthermore, the dynamic Internship process must be continuously evaluated and adapted based on contemporary learning needs. Only in this way can the factors contributing to its improvement be identified promptly and reliably.
The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) was the first among the country's technological institutions to incorporate student Internships as an integral part of the educational process and, in many cases, as a compulsory course within the Curriculum.
The School of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering has incorporated the Internship into its Undergraduate Curriculum since approximately 1953, while the School of Rural and Surveying Engineering followed suit around 1960.
Subsequently, the School of Chemical Engineering incorporated the Internship into its Curriculum in 1989. Then, the Schools of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering and Mechanical Engineering followed in 1996, the School of Applied Mathematics and Physical Sciences (SEMF) in 2003, the School of Architecture in 2009, and finally, the School of Civil Engineering in 2010.
The Internship is a compulsory course in the Curriculum of the Schools of Architecture (SA/ SARCH), Chemical Engineering (SChemE/ SChE) and Mining and Metallurgical Engineering (SMME).
In comparison, it is offered as an elective course in the curricula of the Schools of Civil Engineering (SCE), Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Mechanical Engineering (SME), Rural and Surveying Engineering (SRSGE), Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering (SNAMΕ) and Applied Mathematics and Physical Sciences (SAMPS/SAMPSci).
The regulations of each School determine the duration of the Internship, which ranges from 1 to 2 months.
It takes place annually, approximately from April to October.
In some schools, the Internship's outcome is graded on a 10-point scale, while in others, it is assessed as Pass or Fail without a numerical grade.
In recent years, the Internship program has been significantly strengthened, with an increasing number of students participating and benefiting each year.
More than 1.000 NTUA students are trained in their fields of study each year through the Internship program.
The National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) firmly commits to the Internship program. It supports and reinforces it by allocating a significant portion of its regular budget annually to ensure its sustainability.
The National Strategic Reference Framework NSRF also supports the Internship initiative.
The Internship program represents the comprehensive education of the scientists of tomorrow.
We believe in this program and its invaluable contribution to young scientists. That is why we serve it with all our efforts, aiming to strengthen and improve it by making the best use of the excellent talent produced by Greek universities. Thus, we offer significant benefits to the country's productive sector.
