This version of the course guide is provisional until the period for editing the new course guides ends.

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Work Placement

Code: 44533 ECTS Credits: 9
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability OT 0

Contact

Name:
Gara Villalba Mendez
Email:
gara.villalba@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

It's a requirement to be registered before to start the activity. This activity consists in a short stay of the student in a hosting institution (public or private research institution or in a public or private company) to obtain a basic knowledge of the habits and way of work. The content of this stay is to work on a problem (focused in the environmental field) . Such stays are academically recognized through credits and need of an Agreement signed between the University and the hosting institution.

The management of this agreement takes place in the Administration of the Faculty of Sciences prior completion of an Activity Proposal form.
- There is no obligation of the hosting institution to financially reward students.

- When the host is in Spain, students should be fluent in Spanish or Catalan.

Observation: The number of students who will be able to study this subject is linked to the number of vacancies offered for companies, which is variable. For this reason, the number of student places that can be enrolled in this module may be limited before the course begins.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The objective of this module is the approach to the external workplace of the University and the application of the master's knowledge to the tasks assigned in a company or administration, which will also have to allow them to acquire competences and learning
outcomes concrete.


Competences

  • Analyse, summarise, organise and plan projects related to the environmental improvement of product, processes and services.
  • Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously.
  • Work in an international, multidisciplinary context.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Accept and respect the role of the various team members, and its different levels of dependence.
  2. Maintain a proactive dynamic attitude towards one's own career, personal growth and ongoing training.
  3. Make efficient use of ICT in the communication and transmission of ideas and results.
  4. Support the strengthening of the social capacity of public and private bodies, at different levels, by providing knowledge towards the task of seeking out solutions to a wide variety of situations within the urban space, from an environmental perspective.
  5. Work cooperatively.
  6. Work in an international, multidisciplinary context.

Content

This subject does not have theoretical contents.


The realization of external practices in research laboratories within the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona is
not considered appropriate, this possibility would only be considered as an exceptional fact.


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
internship hours 217 8.68 1, 4, 3, 2, 5, 6
meetings and mentorship 6 0.24 4, 3, 2, 5, 6

The value of the credits obtained by the student are those detailed in the module.
- To calculate the amount of dedication (in hours) that the student has to dedicate to the hosting institution one has to take into account that the minimum number of hours per credit is 25, while the maximum is 30
- The Practicum does not imply any obligation to the hosting institution nor the university except for those strictly academic.
In any case, no job relationship can be ascribed between the student and the hosting institution
- Practicum students' are covered by the scholar insurance according to actual regulation
- Students that due to legal limitations are not covered by the scholar insurance will be required to present supporting documents demonstrating coverage through any other assistance.
Students will be enrolled in the hosting institution system in terms of working hours and working needs. Prior to the start, a registration file will be fulfilled where the tasks to be performed by the student will be detailed.

Once the student has carried out the practicum, during the last week, she/he must write a Memory with the tasks carried out.

The protocol to be followed by the student is as follows:
1. Students should send an email to the coordinator of the Practicum expressing their interests, field of interest, a short CV in Word or pdf format with all the details.
2. This email must be sent no later than November 5th.
3. If the offers are available, the coordinator of the Practicum publishes them on the Virtual Campus, including a brief description to do their tasks.
4. During a period of one week after the previous point, the students can express their preferences to make their stay. Each student may indicate a maximum of two options in order of preference.
5. The Practicum coordinator will distribute the practices offered based on the preferences of the students and the conditions of the places (for example, transportation needs, knowledge of languages, selected by the company, etc. ). The selection between two students on equal terms will be based on the academic qualifications and the subjects taken in the same master, as well as also above.
6. The Practicum Coordinator will contact the tutor at the host institution, and will provide the name and curriculum of the students assigned by the Practicum Coordinator.
7. Through the data provided by the internship coordinator, the student must contact the host institution responsible for holding an interview to establish the details of their stay (hours, tasks to be carried out, etc.) This interview is required before the final acceptance of the student.
8. If the interview is satisfactory, the student must send the activity proposal form by email to the coordinator of the Practicum. This will contact the Academic Management of the Faculty of Sciences, which will prepare the corresponding agreement between the UAB and the host institution. The agreement is prepared with several copies.
9. The Academic Management of the Faculty of Sciences will send the copies of the agreement, duly signed, to the responsible host institution to be signed and returned by the host institution in the Academic Management of the Faculty of Sciences.
10. Once the agreement is signed, students can start their practicum activities.
11. After her/his stay, the evaluation will be carried out.

Variations common to this procedure.
If any student wants to look for a company to do the practicum, the student should speak directly with the coordinator of the Practicum to decide if it can be carried out or not, mainly depending on the work plan and legal limitations. Before this meeting, the student can use the documentation provided in this document at the request of the host institution. The student should contact the practicum coordinator with enough time to process the agreement before the start of the practice.
This contact must be at least three weeks inadvance (whichis the time it generally takes to process an agreement). All other subject registration and assessment requirements are completely equivalent to the procedure explained in the rest of the sections of this teaching guide.

In some cases, this module may be combined with the master thesis (TFM) and / or participate in Challenges advertised by third parties and that responds to specific demands.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
grade from academic tutor 50% 1 0.04 1, 4, 3, 2, 5, 6
Report from tutor 50% 1 0.04 1, 4, 3, 2, 5, 6

Evaluation will be performed according to the following marks:

- 50% based on the student video (see below), evaluated by the coordinator on a scale of 1 to 10 based on the criteria stipulated in the section "competencies" and "learning outcomes." 
- 50% based on the report presented by the host company or institution.

 

The eavluation has the following procedure: 

1. As soon as the student finishes her/his dedication to the project work, she/he MUST prepare a short video (maximum 3 minutes), and send them by e-mail to the coordinator (gara.villalba@uab.cat). The video can be a quick tour of your work place, and then of yourself explaining your responsibilities and what you accomplished while there. What you liked, what you did not like. How it was/wasn´t useful for furthering your knowledge in the field. What are your take-home messages after this internship. It can be in english of spanish or catalan. 
 
2. At the same time, the student should have his/her supervisor at the company fill his/her Evaluation Form which should be sent to the Practicum coordinator by e-mail or enclosed envelop. both 1) and 2) need to be done before the end of June. Form will be available in the moodle platform of the module. 

3. If steps 1 or 2 are not performed, the coordinator will assume student did not do the work and he/she will fail to pass


4. Both 1 and 2 need to be performed, and both must sum to at least 5, for the student to pass. 

In this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is allowed as an integral part of the development of the work, provided that the final result reflects a significant contribution by the student in the analysis and personal reflection. The student must clearly identify which parts have been generated with this technology,specify the tools used and include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. The lack of transparency in the use of AI will be considered a lack of academic honesty and may lead to a penalty in the grade of the activity, or greater sanctions in serious cases.


Bibliography

There is no conventional list of reference books. However, the student is asked to consult the Campus Virtual to know details of the type of agreement, proposal form of activity, and possibilities of Extend his/her stay to the company through non-curricular external practices (UAB Job Exchange, Treball Campus, if applicable)


Software

There is no a conventional list


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PEXTm) Pràctiques externes i pràcticum (màster) 1 Undefined Undefined morning-mixed