Training and master’s thesis (Training supervision & Master's thesis)

Language

English

Main themes

Students carry out a 3-month internship either in a public or in private organization dealing with EU affairs. The internship offers the students the possibility to gain experience in the political, administrative or societal circles of the EU system. The internship aims to prepare students for a smooth transition to the professional world.
A list of host institutions is provided to the students. Subject to prior approval by the supervisor, students are allowed to carry out their internship in another organisation.  At the end of their internship, students draft a report summarizing their experience and the knowledge they gained from it. The report includes a presentation of the organisation where the internship was carried out; a description of the tasks performed; and a critical self-assessment of the internship (with a focus on the student’s confrontation with the professional environment and on a comparison between the theoretical expectations and the real-life experiences). This report must be backed up by examples and concrete situations experienced during the internship.
Students may exceptionally be allowed to write a Master thesis instead of carrying out an internship. This Master thesis will be supervised by a professor teaching in the programme. It will explore a topic related to the European Union.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

At the end of the internship, students are able to:   understand the functioning of an organisation dealing with EU affairs and describe of one or several specific topics addressed by that organisation; demonstrate the added value that they brought to the host organisation; critically analyse the work of that organisation and of the topics it works on to master a large set of organisational, communication, planning and information-processing skills in their future professional environments. At the end of the Master’s thesis, students are able to: identify a research topic and to formulate a research question have in-depth knowledge of an EU-related topic critically analyse that topic communicate according to academic standards on EU-related issues.

Faculty or entity

> IEEB