Supervising interns in FEIT

In the Faculty of Engineering and IT, before the first internship placement, your intern will have completed subjects that cover technical knowledge as well as foundational skills such as working collaboratively with others. Prospective interns will have completed a preparation subject.

Your intern(s) will have prepared a work plan, individual learning goals, and a list of personal and professional attributes that they wish to develop during the internship. During the internship they are required to complete some assessment tasks for the university. After the internship they do a reflection subject.

UTS engineering students enrolled in the professional practice program (PPP) will complete two six-month long internships whereas students who are not enrolled in this PPP will complete only a one-off 12-week internship.

Interns are required by UTS to document their personal and professional experiences and identify resources for personal and professional development. They are also required to collect work appraisal documentation from you and keep records of meetings.

Junior interns should

• observe engineers at work and are encouraged to ask questions
• develop communication skills
• begin to understand systems and processes in the workplace
• practise critical thinking processes
• work as part of a team

Senior interns should

• develop skills related to research, time management, prioritising competing tasks, and effective communication.
• have opportunities to work as a team member and where possible as a team leader
• ask a colleague to be a mentor to advise on achieving goals during the internship – this is usually a professional engineer external to the workplace/organisation

During the second internship, UTS interns will be asked to focus on cross-cultural, ethical and organisational aspects of the workplace to build their online professional practice portfolio.

Your intern will be expected to collect evidence of their professional competency development.