External placements – students

The UPC’s regulations on external academic placements stipulate as follows:

• Student must be enrolled during a placement period and have successfully completed over 50% of compulsory credits.
• Themaximum duration of external academic placements is 900 hours per academic year.
• Educational cooperation agreements for curricular placements have a duration of 360 hours.
• Under no circumstances may a student spend more than 900 hours on placements at a company in one academic year. Under UPC regulations, 30 hours on external academic placement is deemed equivalent to 1 ECTS credit. The maximum hours per year and maximum total hours students may spend on external academic placements over the course of their studies are:
• For bachelor’s degrees (240 credits):
  • Maximum of 900 hours/year
  • Maximum of 1,800 hours over the course of their degree
• For master’s degrees (90 credits):
  • Maximum of 900 hours over the course of their degree
• Placements must be completed within one academic year, that is,between 16 September of the calendar year in which the academic year starts and and 15 September of the following year.
• The training / information on Occupational Risk Prevention in the workplace where the external internships will be carried out will be included in the reception plan that the company has to carry out to the students. For this purpose, the student will have to bring the registration of the reception certificate of the collaborating entity that certifies that he has received such training.
• Students aged 28 or over must take out a private insurance policy. To this effect, the UPC has an agreement with the CONFIDE insurance company.
• They must take out a student insurance policy to cover the term of the agreement. At present, student insurance covers one academic year; that is, from 16 September of the calendar year in which the academic year starts until 15 September of the following year.
• The company shall pay the student a minimum of €8.00/hour, as a study grant. The amount to be paid will be specified when agreements are signed.
• Companies participating in educational cooperation agreements will be invoiced by the UPC for 15.7% of the total amount of the study grant the student receives. These contributions by companies are considered a service and are thereforesubject to VAT at the current rate. This VAT applies only to the amount companies pay as overhead; it does not apply to payments to the career service, or to study grants
• Educational cooperation agreements terminate when students complete their studies. When a student has completed his/her thesis defence, this shall also result in the termination of the agreement. Individuals who have defended and passed their thesis lose their status as students, and the purpose of any educational cooperation agreement is nullified. Therefore, educational cooperation agreements are no longer valid. If an agreement does not end when a student defends his/her thesis, the company must take the steps required to terminate the relationship.
• The starting date for a placement must always be at least one week after the signing of the corresponding agreement.

Access to the summary table of practices with the number of hours and credits for the different options.

Students can make arrangements for internships through the internship offers published in the school website Borsa de Pràctiques en Empresa or by directly contacting companies.

In case the student arranged the internship directly with the company, and in order to have the needed information to continue with the process, the company will need to publish the offer in the Borsa de Pràctiques en Empresa, the student must apply as a candidate and the company select them.

Once the company select their candidate for the internship, the registration of the agreement will start automatically.

The first step is for the student to verify the information in the menu tab “pràctiques externes” that will appear in their e-secretaria, complete the missing information and give their approval.

After that, the centre manager at the school will validate the agreement information and the tutors from the company and the EPSEVG will complete and sign the Training Plan.

Once this is done, EPSEVG will send the internship agreement document to the legal representative of the company to sign it digitally. When they return it, the document will be uploaded to the Portafirmes UPC so first the student, and then the School Director, can also sign it.

When the document is signed, all parties will get a copy of the agreement.

As the internship cannot start until the agreement is signed by all parties, and it is not possible to formalize it with retroactive effects (previous date to the signature) it is highly recommended to start the procedure at least one week before the starting date.

The External Internship Student Reception Guide must be completed, signed and submitted to SIAE either in person or by Demana.

Students over the age of 28 must take out private insurance. To this end, the UPC has signed an agreement with the CONFIDE Insurance Brokerage.

Any changes to the initial conditions of the internship agreement, as well as cancellations and extensions, must be communicated at least 15 days in advance.

In case the internship ends before the date established in the agreement, the student must inform the school and submit the internship agreement document modification to the SIAE either in person or by Demana.

Documenation:

• General procedure
• Students guide
• Registration of Reception Students External Internships
• Regulations
• Students FAQ

Credits that may be recognised for bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Engineering, and documentation required

Curricular placements may be recognised on a student’s academic record as follows:

• 12 optional credits (corresponding to 360 hours of curricular placements) ) for bachelor’s degrees in Industrial Design and Product Development Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Electronics and Automatic Control, and Electrical Engineering.
• 18 optional credits (corresponding to 540 hours of curricular placements): Bachelor's degree in Informatics Engineering.
• 15 optional credits (corresponding to 450 hours of curricular placements): Master’s degree in Automatic Systems Engineering and Industrial Electronics (MUESAEI) and master’s degree in Advanced Studies in Design–Barcelona (MBDesign)

See the regulations for work placements at companies. The forms that need to be filled in can be found in the “Documents” section.

Documents for assessment purposes.

• Report on activities carried out at the company
• Student’s report
• Company tutor’s report
• EPSEVG tutor’s report (for bachelor’s degree students)