These guidelines are for your guidance! It is only binding in the points that result from the respective valid examination regulations, the module handbook or the specifications of the Examinations Office and the supervisors/examiners.

The UFP should enable students to work independently on a scientific project under supervision. The UFP should therefore not be an internship in which students only get a taste of work processes, but should be an active and independently supervised project.

The duration of the UFP is at least 6 weeks and should not exceed 8 weeks.

The UFP can be completed within the working groups of the ICBM/the University of Oldenburg as well as at other universities in Germany and abroad. Alternatively, the UFP can also be completed at an external Institute, an authority or a company or be recognised as part of a semester abroad.

As a rule, students approach the lecturers or the external Institutes themselves and ask about the possibility of completing the UFP.

If the UFP is planned abroad, the university's support and requirements for studying abroad should be taken into account in addition to the confirmation of supervision:

University website: Ways abroad

As there are different regulations in the various countries and institutions, insurance cover must be clarified individually. The student is responsible for any additional health and accident insurance that may be required.

The UFP should be completed as a scientific research project, which is usually supervised by one or two lecturers. The content of the research project should relate to current research questions that are being worked on in an interdisciplinary manner by the ICBM working groups. In both cases, whether at the ICBM/at the University of Oldenburg or outside, it must be an activity that is closely related to the content of current research activities at the ICBM and is a completed project.

The topic usually arises from the student's interests. The student has discovered an interesting topic that he or she would like to delve deeper into and makes contact with a working group that deals with the topic. The UFP can also deal with an interdisciplinary topic that combines aspects of different working groups. In a first meeting , a project topic is then jointly developed, the scheduling and realisation are discussed and the scope of the content is determined.

If the UFP is carried out at the ICBM or the University of Oldenburg or as part of an ICBM/University of Oldenburg project, it does not have to be registered. In this case, the grade is simply submitted to the Examinations Office by the examiner after the internship report has been submitted.

A confirmation of supervision (form) must be submitted if the project is to be carried out outside the University of Oldenburg. This must be submitted to the Examinations Office in good time before the start of the project.

The purpose of the confirmation of supervision is to ensure that the supervisor is aware that the internship is not a simple internship and that an independent project must be worked on during the period. This is documented in the confirmation of supervision.

Confirmation of supervision form (German)

Confirmation of supervision form (English)

The examination is based on an internship report, which is marked by an examiner, usually the supervisor at the ICBM.

If the UFP is carried out at an external location, the marking will be done by the examiner at the ICBM. As a rule, the examiner will liaise with the on-site supervisor and take their judgement into account.

The UfP is a "normal" module and therefore only requires one examiner. This does not necessarily have to be a professor, but he/she must be authorised to examine for the degree programme. If there is no examination entitlement, someone with examination entitlement (e.g. the head of the working group) must formally take over the supervision.

The grade can be reported to the Examinations Office by the person authorised to conduct examinations by email.

The project must be carried out in accordance with the guidelines of good academic practice. This includes, among other things, correct citation and verifiability of the work carried out.

Regulations on the principles for ensuring good academic practice at Carl von Ossietzky University

The internship report should not exceed 100 pages. The form and actual length of the internship report is determined by the supervisor.

Active participation in (AG) seminars takes place in accordance with the supervisors.

The Master's thesis may be written in the same working group(s) as the UFP. Please note that the UFP and Master's thesis must be two separate topics. The UFP may not be used to extend the processing time for the Master's thesis. However, it is possible to write a Master's thesis on the basis of the UFP. For example, it would be conceivable to carry out and document data collection during a research trip in the UFP and to write the Master's thesis on the modelling of this data.

Examination regulations

Module Handbook