Description of the course of practice

Inclusion in the curriculum

In the current study programme Applied Informatics (from 2019), the professional practice is divided into 3 separate courses.

• Preparation for professional practice
• course assessed at 2 credits
• Required to complete 104 hours (13 working days) of in-company training
• the purpose of the course is to complete the necessary initial training and courses such as HSE, installation and familiarisation with the necessary tools and software
• Experience
• Course assessed at 22 credits
• Required to complete 560 hours of in-company work experience (14 working weeks)
• Assessment of professional practice
• Course assessed at 2 credits
• presentation and defence of practice outcomes

In the recommended curriculum, the courses Preparation for Professional Practice and Professional Practice are proposed for the 5th semester. The older version of the AI curriculum has only one course, namely Professional Practice, which is worth 20 credits.

Administrative provision of internships at the VŠPJ

The professional practice of AI majors is provided by two roles in the Department of Engineering Studies, practice guarantor and practice reviewer.

The role of the practice guarantor is in particular:

• assess and approve reported practice
• check the progress of the placement
• evaluate and approve the outcomes of the completed practice
• give credit for the PS/AI internship course
• to ensure the smooth organisation of internships in the Department of Technical Studies and to solve serious problems related to AI and PS internships
.

The role of the internship officer is mainly

• administratively manage the practice
.
• record the necessary documents relating to professional practices
• provide a consultancy service regarding the practice

General rules

The AI  industry practice can be broadly divided into two categories, and the way in which the practice is supervised, conducted and evaluated will vary according to the type of practice:

• student participates in the creation of a specific measurable product or output (program, analysis, database design or implementation, experiment, etc.), "project"
type practice
• student participates in day-to-day continuous activities (e.g. ongoing network management including problem identification and resolution, software testing, virtualization, data storage management, etc.)

In both cases, care should be taken to ensure that the activities performed are consistent with the Graduate Profile (see also Introduction, Theoretical Knowledge and Activities to practice).

Pre-entry practice

Not later than 3 weeks prior to the start of the internship the student will report his/her internship in the internship.vspj.cz portal. 

The reported internship will then be checked by the internship supervisor to ensure that it meets the requirements set for the internship and the field of study. No later than within 10 working days of reporting the internship the student will be informed whether the internship is approved.

An entity (company) offering a traineeship may, when a student applies for a traineeship, require the student to pass an entrance test; if the student is found not to have the required level, the entity has the right to reject the student.

Not later than 5 working days prior to commencement of the placement, the student shall submit to the Placement Officer a Placement Agreement with all the required documents. The contract can be found in the internship portal after the student's internship has been approved by the supervisor. The contract is generated with all the formalities and data that the student has filled in when reporting. The contract for internship is confirmed on behalf of the VŠPJ by the head of the relevant department. The contract must indicate the designated staff member responsible for the student's work experience, as determined by the organisation. It is required (see also Description of the place of practice) that this person has a university degree of at least Bachelor's level (in justified cases this requirement may be waived)

During the internship

During the professional practice, the student fills in the Practice Diary in the portal praxe.vspj.cz at least once a week. During the internship there are checks by VŠPJ - see below. 

After the internship

Credit for individual subjects related to the internship will be awarded by the internship guarantor based on the fulfilment of the conditions listed in the chapter Internship evaluation.

Approval and control of the practice

Approval of the internship is done on the basis of the information provided in the form "Reporting the internship" available in the documents section of the portal praxe.vspj.cz). The requirements for the specification vary according to the type of practice according to the subdivision mentioned above in the General Rules in the Description of the practice course. Details of the practice progress check are given below, but it is always the case that the practice diary will be checked on an ongoing basis.

Creation of a measurable outcome (project option)

1) Approval of a practice of this type is subject to:

• A precise specification of the initial state of the problem (the terms of reference, what has already been analysed, what has already been implemented, what experiments have already been carried out)
• exact specification of the final outcome of the practice, (e.g. description of the planned functionality of the program, description of the intended analysis, outline of the planned experiments)
• exact specification of the student's role in solving the problem (e.g., student programs module X, performs a series of experiments Y-Z)

The above information must be provided by the sponsor of the internship (company) and must be included in the  "Reporting of Internship" form.

2) The student may agree with the employer a specific mode of practice, whereby he/she does not have to be present at the workplace at all times, but may carry out the activities associated with the practice from any location, indicating this fact in the form "Practice Report".

3) The verification of the fulfilment of the practice is carried out by comparing the specification under 1) with the actual situation.

• If in the course of performing the practice there is a significant change in the specification according to point 1), the student is obliged to notify the guarantor of the practice, who will decide on further action.
• The monitoring is carried out by the practice supervisor or another person authorised by the practice supervisor - if the student is working on his/her bachelor thesis during the practice, this person may be the supervisor.
• If the subject of the activity is protected as company know-how, the conditions under which the control will take place must be demonstrably agreed with the company in advance.

4) If the employer detects a student's gross violation of his/her work duties, he/she shall inform the supervisor of the internship; such a finding may be grounds for not granting credit.

Ongoing continuous activity

1) Approval of this type of practice is subject to:

• a precise specification of the student's job description, i.e. a specific description of the student's duties, competencies and responsibilities; a vague description such as "the student will perform activities as required by the supervisor"
cannot be accepted
• giving the location of the workplace where the student will carry out the placement and the hours during which the student will be at the workplace

The above information must be supplied by the sponsor of the internship (company) and must be included on the "Report of Internship" form.

2) The student must be present at the designated workplace during the specified hours throughout the internship.

3) The verification of the fulfilment of the internship shall be done by comparing the specification under 1) with the actual situation.

• If in the course of the practice there is a significant change in the specification according to point 1), the student is obliged to report this fact to the guarantor of the practice, who will decide on further action.
• Control is carried out by the practice supervisor or another person authorised by the practice supervisor - if the student is working on his/her bachelor thesis during the practice, this person may be the supervisor.
• If the subject of the activity is protected as company know-how, the conditions under which the control will take place must be demonstrably agreed with the company in advance.

4) If the employer detects a student's gross violation of his/her work duties, he/she shall inform the supervisor of the internship; such a finding may be grounds for not granting credit.