Course coordinator
Dr Alastair Stark
Course overview
- Study period
- Summer Semester, 2024 (25/11/2024 - 08/02/2025)
- Study level
- Postgraduate Coursework
- Location
- St Lucia
- Attendance mode
- Online
- Units
- 2
- Administrative campus
- St Lucia
- Coordinating unit
- Politic Sc & Internat Studies
This is a restricted entry course and the consent of POLSIS must be obtained prior to enrolment.
This course allows students to develop their research, analytical and communication skills while they acquire practical and professional knowledge in a workplace setting. The course is available to students in the Master of International Relations, Master of Peace and Conflict Studies, and Master of Development Practice programs.
The AFE/Internship must be negotiated in advance and students should contact the course coordinator approximately twelve weeks prior to the beginning of semester in which they wish to undertake the AFE/Internship. 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.
The Internship provides students with an opportunity to work in a hostﾠ organisation that operates in a field related to international studies. The Internship ﾠmust 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 / internship, working with a host organisation identified and selected by the student and approved by the Course Coordinator. Students are required to complete a 2,000 word log book and 4,000 word written report, and to supply written confirmation from the host organisation that they have successfully completed their Internship.
Applications can be submitted via the Placement Management System:ﾠhttps://placements.uq.edu.au.ﾠFurther information is available at https://polsis.uq.edu.au/internshipfield-work.ﾠFurther information, including the application form is available at https://polsis.uq.edu.au/internshipfield-work.ﾠ
Please note that the Ethical Clearance Form (if required) must be completed before the Course Coordinator can approve an Internship (see below).
ETHICAL CLEARANCE
It is a requirement of the University 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 linkﾠhttps://my-research.research.uq.edu.au/
Further information can be found hereﾠhttps://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.
TRAVEL PLAN
You must comply with the University's Safety Guidelines. The Travel Plan Form is available at http://www.fbs.uq.edu.au/travel-dev/ﾠ.
Health and Safety
Students are required to completeﾠthe HASS 5in5 that outlines safety steps before commencing an internship outside campus. Follow ﾠthis link, sign in to Blackboard, and then click on the quick enrol button:ﾠ
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 OR 8 units of MDP program core courses with a GPA greater than 5.0
Course contact
Course staff
Lecturer
Dr Alastair Stark
Course administrator
Ms Charene Erasmus
Timetable
Additional timetable information
There are no scheduled classes for this course.
Aims and outcomes
This course aims to allow students to develop their 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:
LO1.
Demonstrate practical and professional skills developed in the field.
LO2.
Understand the key working elements of a host organisation selected by the student.
LO3.
Communicate effectively the outcomes of the fieldwork experience.
LO4.
Demonstrate independent research skills through an applied research project.
Assessment
Assessment summary
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation | Internship Report | Pass/Fail |
7/02/2025 5:00 pm |
| Placement | Confirmation of successful completion | Pass/Fail |
7/02/2025 5:00 pm |
| Notebook/ Logbook | Log Book | Pass/Fail |
7/02/2025 5:00 pm |
Assessment details
Internship Report
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Paper/ Report/ Annotation
- Weight
- Pass/Fail
- Due date
7/02/2025 5:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04
Task description
Write a 4,000 word report on your fieldwork experience / internship. The report should be a reflective essay containing your thoughts and reflections about your applied field experience / internship. It should relate your role/position in the organisation to the organisation's overall purpose and it should contain reflections on the various challenges the organisation confronts -- whether organisational, political or something else. You are not expected to advance an argument, as you would for a research paper, but you should place your experience in the context of what you have learned during the previous two semesters of course work. This involves drawing upon some of the theoretical and practical approaches you have studied and applying them to your field experience / internship. You may also want to reflect on how the work you did and the objectives of the organisation fit in with broader objectives of peace and conflict resolution or with broader trends in international relations. In general, this report should be viewed as an opportunity to reflect on what you have learned during your internship and how it relates to the study of international relations or peace and conflict resolution.
Assessment tasks are intended to evaluate a student’s abilities, skills, and knowledge. Unless explicitly stated otherwise in the assessment instructions, assessments are to be completed without the aid of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Translation (MT). Failure to comply with this direction may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
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:
- Note the error message (preferably take a screenshot).
- Go to your assignment page and see if it is possible to submit again.
- 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.
Confirmation of successful completion
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Placement
- Weight
- Pass/Fail
- Due date
7/02/2025 5:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04
Task description
Each student must obtain and supply to the Course Coordinator written confirmation from their host organisation indicating that the student has successfully completed the applied fieldwork experience / internship. Ideally, this letter should be written on official letterhead, but an email written directly to the Course Coordinator is acceptable where the letterhead option is not possible.
Submission guidelines
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
Log Book
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Notebook/ Logbook
- Weight
- Pass/Fail
- Due date
7/02/2025 5:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04
Task description
Write a 2000 word log book that details your role/position in the organisation, the daily tasks you perform and the objectives set for you by the host organisation. It is primarily a descriptive account that narrates what you did during your internship, elaborating on the tasks that were given to you, how you carried them out, and the difficulties you encountered.
Assessment tasks are intended to evaluate a student’s abilities, skills, and knowledge. Unless explicitly stated otherwise in the assessment instructions, assessments are to be completed without the aid of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Translation (MT). Failure to comply with this direction may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
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:
- Note the error message (preferably take a screenshot).
- Go to your assignment page and see if it is possible to submit again.
- 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.
| Pass/Fails | Cut off Percent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| P | <p>0</p> - |
Course grade description: <p>- All written work in this course must demonstrate satisfactory writing skills (including attention to presentation, grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.) and must provide the course coordinator with a reasonable understanding of what was achieved during the AFE. Basic levels of academic and professional competence must be demonstrated in the written work. The log book must provide enough detail for the course coordinator to understand the role you undertook while on the AFE. The report is not expected to advance an argument, but it should present a satisfactory account of what you learned on your AFE and how it relates to and enriches your studies.</p> |
| F | <p>0</p> - |
Course grade description: <p>- Student fails to pass one or more pieces of assessment.</p> |
Additional course grading information
Grades will be awarded on the following basis:
1.ﾠFailﾠ 1 - 19%
2. Failﾠ 20 - 44%
3. Failﾠ 45 ﾖ 49%
4. Passﾠ 50 - 64 %
5. Creditﾠ 65 - 74 %
6. Distinctionﾠ 75 - 84 %
7. High Distinctionﾠ 85 - 100 %
Supplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is not available for some items in this course.
Additional assessment information
Word Length Penalty
Unless otherwise indicated, in the case of written submissions with a specified word count, you are given a +10% leeway on that word count. If your written submission is over this leeway limit, it will attract a 10 percentage point penalty.
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.
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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.
Filter activity type by
Please select
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Multiple weeks |
Fieldwork |
On location with a host organisation You must complete a minimum of 120 hours fieldwork between the start of semester and the end of semester. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04 |
Workshop |
Meetings with Academic Supervisor Work independently on your own research project under the supervision of an academic supervisor, with periodic meetings Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04 |
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.