Internship (Master of Governance and Public Policy) (POLS7125)

Course overview

This is a restricted entry course and School consent must be obtained prior to enrolment.
The Internship is based on a mutually agreed partnership between the student and an external organisation. The student agrees to carry out a research project on a topic/issue of direct interest to the external organisation. In return, the external organisation agrees to provide the support necessary for the project to be completed within a definite time frame. Secondary supervision is also provided by an academic staff member from the School.
Established internship partners include: the Queensland Government, the federal and Queensland parliaments, and a number of other national, government and non-government agencies. The availability of internships is limited. Applicants will be awarded places on academic merit taking into consideration their GPA and previous study history.
All additional costs incurred by students undertaking this course remain the responsibility of the student.

Further information including how to apply is available on the POLSIS website here.

Students are required to complete a research project over one semester, which will be the basis for a written report of 6,000 words. The applied field experience must be negotiated in advance with the Course Coordinator. Costs incurred by students undertaking the course remain the responsibility of the student. Students undertake a minimum of 120 hours for the applied field experience, working with a host organisation identified and selected by the student and approved by the Course Coordinator. It is anticipated that of the 120 hours of the experience, 2/3 will be spent in direct contact with the host organisation and 1/3 will be spent researching and preparing and writing the research report.

Students interested in this course should contact the School by email at polsis@uq.edu.au.ﾠFurther information, including the application process is available atﾠhttps://polsis.uq.edu.au/internshipfield-work.

ETHICAL CLEARANCE

It is a University requirement that an Ethical Clearance is obtained for any independent study project involving human subjects. Working with their supervisor, students are expected to seek ethical approval for any interview, survey or other research involving people. If your independent study does not involve people in this way, then you do not need ethical clearance.

Applications should be submitted by using the MyResearch link https://my-research.research.uq.edu.au/

Further information can be found here https://www.uq.edu.au/research/research-support/ethics-integrity-and-compliance/human-ethics/ethics-application

It is not necessary to lodge an application for Ethical Clearance with your initial application. However, this must be done prior to commencing research.

You are required to comply with the University's Fieldwork Safety Guidelines: http://ppl.app.uq.edu.au/content/2.30.09-work-campus-safety

After you have received approval for the Internship Placementﾠfrom the School you will be requiredﾠto completeﾠthe UQﾠTravel Form.

Course requirements

Prerequisites

You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:

8 units of postgraduate POLS-coded courses with a GPA greater than 5.0

Course contact

Course staff

Timetable

Additional timetable information

There are no scheduled classes for this course.

Aims and outcomes

This course aims to allow students to develop their research, analytical and communication skills while they acquire practical and professional knowledge in a workplace setting.

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment details

Project Outline

Mode

Written

Category

Paper/ Report/ Annotation

Weight

Pass/Fail

Due date

13/12/2024

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03

Task description

Submission guidelines

Submission:

Assignments for this course will be submitted electronically via Blackboard and using Turnitin.

In uploading an assignment via Turnitin you are certifying that it is your original work, that it has not been copied in whole or part from another person or source except where this is properly acknowledged, and that it has not in whole or part been previously submitted for assessment in any other course at this or any other university.

When you successfully submit your assessment to Turnitin after previewing the uploaded document (to make sure that you have chosen the correct file), you should see the “Submission Complete!” message. After this, a downloadable Digital Receipt will display on your Assignment Dashboard. It is your responsibility to download the Digital Receipt as proof of submission. Turnitin will not send this receipt to you automatically.

If you don’t see the downloadable receipt on your assignment dashboard, you should regard your submission as unsuccessful.

If the submission was not successful:

1. Note the error message (preferably take a screenshot).
2. Go to your assignment page and see if it is possible to submit again.
3. If you cannot submit again, then email your course coordinator immediately.

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Unless an extension is granted, penalties for late submission apply. Students are penalised 10% of the maximum possible mark allocated for the assessment item for every calendar day that an assessment item is late.

Marks will be deducted each day for up to 7 calendar days, at which point the submitted item will not receive any marks unless an extension has been approved. Each 24-hour block is triggered from the time the submission is due.

Research Report 6,000 words

Mode

Written

Category

Paper/ Report/ Annotation

Weight

Pass/Fail

Due date

20/01/2025

Learning outcomes

L01, L02, L03

Task description

Submission guidelines

Submission:

Assignments for this course will be submitted electronically via Blackboard and using Turnitin.

In uploading an assignment via Turnitin you are certifying that it is your original work, that it has not been copied in whole or part from another person or source except where this is properly acknowledged, and that it has not in whole or part been previously submitted for assessment in any other course at this or any other university.

When you successfully submit your assessment to Turnitin after previewing the uploaded document (to make sure that you have chosen the correct file), you should see the “Submission Complete!” message. After this, a downloadable Digital Receipt will display on your Assignment Dashboard. It is your responsibility to download the Digital Receipt as proof of submission. Turnitin will not send this receipt to you automatically.

If you don’t see the downloadable receipt on your assignment dashboard, you should regard your submission as unsuccessful.

If the submission was not successful:

1. Note the error message (preferably take a screenshot).
2. Go to your assignment page and see if it is possible to submit again.
3. If you cannot submit again, then email your course coordinator immediately.

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Unless an extension is granted, penalties for late submission apply. Students are penalised 10% of the maximum possible mark allocated for the assessment item for every calendar day that an assessment item is late.

Marks will be deducted each day for up to 7 calendar days, at which point the submitted item will not receive any marks unless an extension has been approved. Each 24-hour block is triggered from the time the submission is due.

Course grading

Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.

Additional course grading information

Pass:

In order to pass the course a student must:

(1) Complete and submit to both the School and the hosting organization a research report;

(2) Complete the 'log book' in which they record their work during the internship; and

(3) Complete the project outline.

ﾠ

A student will fail the course if they fail to complete any one of the three tasks listed above

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment is not available for some items in this course.

Additional assessment information

Word Count and Word Limit Penalty

Unless otherwise indicated, in the case of written submissions with a specified word count, you are given a +10% leeway on the upper word limit. If your written submission is over this leeway limit, it will attract a 10 percentage point penalty. For example, if your essay is 1,500 words, you may write up to 1,650 before attracting a word count penalty. If your essay exceeds the upper word limit, it will attract a 10% word count penalty. Therefore, if your essay is worth 40 marks, you will lose 4 marks from your allotted grade. Unless specified, penalties only apply to exceeding the word length, not for failure to write a sufficient amount.

Students should note:

• The Author-date in-text referencing system will count toward the word length;

• References in the Footnote referencing system will not count toward the word length. If you are using footnotes, any content included in footnotes beyond the specific text reference will count towards the word length.

Students should refer to the School of Political Science & International Studies Essay Guide for further information. The Essay Guide can be downloaded from POLSIS Student Supportﾠpage.

Supplementary Assessment

Supplementary Assessment is not available on the following assessment item because it is not possible to re-assess some of the minimum learning requirements for this item:

-Plan (Pass/Fail)

Learning resources

You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.

Library resources

Library resources are available on the UQ Library website.

Learning activities

The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.

Policies and procedures

University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:

• Student Code of Conduct Policy
• Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
• Assessment Procedure
• Examinations Procedure
• Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure

Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.