This internship manual provides information regarding the MPA602 internship course in public service offered by the School of Public Administration and Development Economics at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies for pre-service students. Students with significant work experience may be eligible for an internship waiver. Nonetheless, they can optionally register for this course if they desire to further develop their work experience in specific public service internship opportunities. This manual provides guidelines and takes into consideration diverse internship opportunities for participants in the Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Policy and Master of Development Economics. The internship activity is documented by using the DI online internship process.
1. Internship Learning Outcomes:
The primary objective of the MPA602 internship course is to provide a learning opportunity for graduate students to develop career prospects by acquiring practical knowledge of work environment and administrative processes in public service institutions, nongovernmental organizations, private sectors, and international institutions.
The internship course learning outcomes (CLOs) are as follows:
- Link concepts of public policies, public administration, and development economics to public service real world issues.
- Understand the general functioning of public service organizations, non-governmental and international organizations.
- Acquire basic knowledge of specific administrative policy and analytical processes.
- Learn about possible opportunities existing in the public service domain.
- Develop the ability to work and perform under pressure and deal with various work environment constraints and challenges.
- Build contacts and personal relationships that may offer career opportunities in the future.
2. Internship Requirements:
- Enroll to the Public Service Internship course.
- Provide the academic advisor with an experience certificate of at least two years in any of the governmental or semi-governmental sectors.
- Prepare a paper and a presentation of no less than 1000 words describing an administrative-or-policy related issue at the workplace. The paper should argue the best administrative practices that students have learned at DI. Students should coordinate with the academic advisor to specify the topic and get official approval.
In-service students may optionally register for this course if they desire to further develop their professional work experience in public service activities.
The student with questions regarding her/his pre-service or in-service status should consult with the academic advisor and the internship program coordinator. The final decision on this matter will be made by the program head in consultation with the Dean.
The student is expected to develop his/her own personal goals for the internship training program, in consultation with the academic advisor, the internship coordinator and the host organization supervisor (See Annex A).
Pre-service students should work a minimum of 300 hours in the host organization. No prerequisites are required to enroll in the MPA602 Internship course. However, pre-service Students must enroll in the MPA602 Internship course after completing at least two semesters of course work.
The internships work is normally scheduled to take place over a semester period, either during the summer and/or the fall semester following the first two semesters of course work.
The student is assigned an internship period according to an internship plan based on the nature of his/her internship work and that meets the internship course learning outcomes requirements.
The internship assigned may be extended to students to allow them to complete their internship workload within the maximum period allowed by the DI to extend their studies. To be eligible, students need to formally request a one-time extension, to be approved jointly by their academic and host organization supervisors after the approval of the Dean of student's affairs (See ANNEX B).
Once the student begins her/his internship, there is a shared internship management responsibility among the student, internship coordinator, academic advisor, and host organization supervisor.
Students need to report in due time all problems and concerns regarding their internship work progress to their academic advisor and the internship coordinator.
Students may request a one-time changing of the host organization in consultation with their academic advisors and the internship coordinator.
At the end of each semester, each academic advisor reports jointly with the internship coordinator to the program head on each student currently registered in the MPA602 Internship course.
The student serves as an essential link between the internship coordinator, the academic advisor and the host organization supervisor and accordingly bears responsibility in helping to maintain lines of communication among the parties involved. The academic advisor, host organization supervisor and the internship coordinator determine the best method for tracking the hours the student internship work.
The intern completes and submits online to the internship coordinator a weekly time log (See Annex B).
The intern is responsible for regularly following ups with his/her academic advisor and host organization supervisor to validate the number of completed hours worked for the internship. The host organization supervisor reports to the academic advisor and the internship coordinator and the total number of hours worked in the Supervisor's Evaluation form.
The intern submits a midterm memo, maximum 500 words, that reflects internship work progress according and achievements of the course learning outcome according to the form below (See Annex C).
The intern submits to the academic advisor and host organization supervisor a final reflection report, with about 1000 words, that reflects internship work completion according to the form below (See Annex D). The academic advisor comments and reports to the head of program.
The intern should demonstrate the capacity to perform in work environment work with cross-cultural diversity.
Internships are generally offered without compensation.
The intern should demonstrate the highest level of professionalism, which includes punctuality and compliance with work standards, policies, and procedures of the host organization.
Undertaking an internship involves trust between the intern and the host organization, ethical responsibilities, and protection of confidentiality of host organization information.
The intern should comply with the Doha Institute ethics policy for research in all aspects of the internship experience. The student should demonstrate the highest conduct and represent the Doha Institute in the best possible manner.
