Description of the course of practice

Inclusion in the curriculum

Course Experience:

• is worth 22 credits (or 20 credits for the 2016/2017 programme)
• is required to complete 560 hours (14 working weeks)
of work experience in a company.
• in the recommended curriculum the course is included in the 6th semester

Administrative provision of internships at the VŠPJ

Professional practice of stud. of the ATPP  programme are provided by two roles in the Department of Technical Studies, practice guarantor and practice reviewer.

The role of the practice supervisor is in particular:

• assess and approve reported practice
• check the progress of the placement
• evaluate and approve the outcomes of the completed practice
• grant credit
• to ensure the smooth organisation of internships in the Department of Technical Studies and to solve serious problems related to internships

The role of the Practice Officer is mainly

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

General rules

The ATPP practitioner practices can be broadly divided into two categories, and the way in which the practice is supervised, implemented 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 must be taken to ensure that the activities performed are consistent with graduate profile (see also Introduction, Theoretical Knowledge& and Activities to Practice)

Pre-entry practice

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

The reported internship will be checked by the internship guarantor to see if it meets the conditions set for the internship and the student's degree. The practice is subject to the requirements of the practice and the programme. The student will be informed whether the internship is approved no later than 10 working days after reporting the internship.

An entity (company) offering an internship position may require the student to pass an entrance test when applying for the internship. 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 requisites. 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 details and information that the student has filled in when reporting. The internship contract 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 at least once a week in the portal praxe.vspj.cz.  During the practice there are checks by the VŠPJ - see below. 

After the internship

Credit will be awarded by the guarantor of the internship on the basis of fulfilling the conditions listed in chapter Internship evaluation.

Approval and control of the practice

Approval of the practice is based on the information provided in the form "Practice Report" (available in the documents section of the portal praxe.vspj.cz).  The specification requirements vary according to the type of practice according to the division that was mentioned above in the General Rules in the chapter Description of the practice course. Details of the control of the practice progress 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 "Internship Report" form.

2) The student can agree with the employer a specific mode of practice, where he/she does not have to be present at the workplace all the time, but can perform the activities related to the practice from any place, this fact shall be indicated 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 gross misconduct on the part of the student, he/she shall inform the work experience supervisor; such a finding may be grounds for not awarding 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) Checking the performance of the internship is done by random checks that the student is present at the workplace and that he/she performs the specified activity.

• If in the course of the practice there is a significant change in the specification according to 1), the student is obliged to report this fact to the supervisor 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 gross violation of work duties by the student, he/she shall inform the work experience supervisor. Such a finding may be grounds for not awarding credit.