James Cook University Subject Handbook - 2023

SC5009 - Postgraduate Internship

Subject Description

The Postgraduate Internship subject is a capstone Work Integrated Learning (WIL) subject for students in the Master of Science (Professional). It gives students first-hand professional work experience in a relevant science discipline combined with employability development activities to produce job and career ready graduates. The subject requires students to further develop, apply and demonstrate their professional competencies in an applied context under the direction of a supervisor from a relevant industry, government or not-for-profit organisation. Students will complete a minimum of 420 hours on the internship project plus an additional 100 hours on skill and employability development workshops, activities and assessment tasks, to a total of 520 hours, across 13 weeks. Students are required to prepare and submit an Internship/Project Plan and a final Internship/Project report. Students will also prepare an e-portfolio that includes insights, assets, and artefacts generated during their internship experiences and an individual career plan. On completion of the internship, students will present a summary of their internship experience portfolio to a panel including an HR recruiter/employer, a JCU academic and a career development specialist. They will also receive an Industry Supervisor Evaluation. Enrolment conditions: This subject is intended to be taken in the last semester of the MSc Professional course. Students must complete the pre-requisite unit SC5200 in their preceding semesters. Students undertaking their project overseas, or away from the main JCU campuses are responsible for their own travel and accommodation expenses (unless this is provided by the workplace organisation). JCU student insurance can be used to cover travel and workplace insurance requirements, upon application.

There are additional charges for this subject; please contact the College of Science and Engineering for details.

Learning Outcomes

• apply discipline specific knowledge, research skills and technical capabilities to plan and execute a project in a professional workplace environment
• demonstrate critical thinking and problem solving skills by anticipating and addressing challenges and problems that may arise during project execution
• professionally communicate, in both written and oral forms, to specialist and non-specialist audiences
• critically reflect on current skills, knowledge and attitudes to develop and manage professional learning and employability performance within a professional workplace environment
• demonstrate understanding of the workplace organisation's ways of working and the ability to work effectively, responsibly and safely in diverse contexts
• demonstrate preparedness for future employment and ongoing career management

Subject Assessment

• Oral > Presentation 1 - (13%) - Individual
• Internship Supervisor's evaluation - (10%) - Individual
• Written > Action plan - (20%) - Individual
• Written > Project report - (25%) - Individual
• Written > Self-reflection task - (20%) - Individual
• Internship e-portfolio - (13%) - Individual

Note that minor variations might occur due to the continuous subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.

Inadmissible Subject Combinations:  SC5008

Availabilities