Internship regulations for the Bachelor's program in Mechanical Engineering (first-year students starting with WS 2023/24)

The guidelines listed here are based on the study and examination regulations of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) for the Bachelor's program in Mechanical Engineering dated 28.04.2023.

Contents and qualification goals

In the Bachelor's program in mechanical engineering, a professional internship of at least 12 weeks is a required curriculum element. Of this, at least eight weeks must be completed as a specialized internship. A maximum of four weeks can be completed as a basic internship.

The activities in the basic internship can be selected from the following areas:

• metal-cutting manufacturing processes,
• forming manufacturing processes,
• primary forming manufacturing processes and
• thermal joining and separating processes.

The activities in the specialized internship must correspond in content to those of an engineer in terms of content. Activities may be selected from the following areas:

• (industrial) research and development,
• design and process planning,
• production planning and control,
• logistics and operations management,
• modelling and simulation,
• design of experiments, experimental procedure and evaluation,
• project and planning tasks,
• engineering services and
• other subject-related complex activities (projects) according to the chosen specialization.

At least two different areas from these fields should be demonstrated. Activities from the field of a skilled worker are not recognized as a specialized internship.

Qualification goals

After their professional internship, students will be able to

• describe the principles of organizational structure and process organization (e.g. production planning and control) in an industrial company,
• perform complex technical tasks under realistic conditions
• apply key qualifications such as personal initiative, teamwork and communication skills in addition to their technical practical experience and abilities,
• describe the subject-related and interdisciplinary requirements in the individually aspired later field of activity and can take this into account for further studies.

Recognition of the professional internship

For the recognition of the professional internship, an internship certificate of the company with the type and duration of the internship and an internship report of 0.5 pages per week are required. Both documents must be confirmed by the company by signature. Company stands here synonymously for firms, companies, etc., which include a recognized training facility (but not, for example, a GbR). The type of the individual activities must be clearly evident from the internship certificate. In case of ambiguity the internship contract or further proofs can also be requested as originals.

The documents can be submitted by e-mail as a pdf file from the student KIT e-mail address to the Internship Office or in paper form to the mailbox of the Internship Office or sent by mail. A personal submission is also possible during the office hours of the Internship Office. Submitted original documents must be picked up again at the Internship Office four weeks after submission. Unclaimed original documents will be destroyed two years after this deadline.

The Internship Office of the Department of Mechanical Engineering evaluates the internhip and decides to what extent the practical activity complies with the internship regulations and whether or to what extent it can be recognized as a professional internship.

Absence days must be made up. Absence days also include vacation days and absence due to incapacity for work.

Activities carried out at universities, equivalent institutions of higher education or comparable research institutions are not recognized as professional internships.

Internship contract

The contract of employment becomes legally binding through the internship contract to be concluded between the company and the intern. The contract defines all rights and obligations of the intern and the company as well as the type and duration of the internship. If an internship commitment certificate is required by the company, it can be issued by the Internship Office upon request.

Applications for leave of absence

A prerequisite for the approval of an application for leave of absence is the complete fulfillment and successful recognition of the 12 weeks of professional internship required by the study and examination regulations.

Applications for leave of absence must

• differ from previously completed internships in terms of content or areas of activity and qualification goals (e.g. due to a different industry affiliation or an internship abroad if previous internships took place in Germany),
• submitted, if possible, four weeks before the start of the internship.

Applications for leave of absence from Bachelor's students in the 1st semester will not be approved for the completion of a voluntary internship.

Internship report

A report must be written about the completed internship, the content of which must be confirmed by the company by signature at least once at the end of the report. The report should be written as a flowing text (no lists or collections of keywords) with supplementary sketches, if necessary. The length of the report should be approx. 0.5 pages (DIN A4, font Arial 12 or comparable, single line spacing, margins: left, right, top 2.5 cm and bottom 2.0 cm) continuous text plus sketches if necessary.

As an introduction to the actual report, the company should be briefly described on about 0.5 pages (industry, size, production range, etc.). In the activity report, one's own experiences should be described for the duration of the internship on the basis of a description of the activities carried out (processing examples, problems in the manufacture of mechanical engineering products, findings, correlations, etc.). At the end of the report there should be a reflection on the internship. Here the most important practical experiences are summarized again. In addition to the technical content, the social components of the work should also be mentioned.

The reports also serve as practice in the presentation of technical facts, as is also typical for writing a Bachelor's or Master's thesis, and must therefore be self-written. General presentations without direct reference to one's own activity or the mere reproduction of texts and sketches from technical books as well as the use of brochures and company drawings will not be accepted. Images or texts from external sources must be identified as such in all cases (list of references).