The third semester you do an internship for about 10 weeks. The internship must be of academic relevance but should also mirror the academic job market awaiting you after graduation. This means that the sort of work you will attend to should require your academic competences in applied cultural analysis. In a written project description you state what sort of work will be carried out during the internship and what kind of product or result you are to hand over to the organization. Depending on the internship provider it could be key findings, recommendations, power point presentations, a folder, an article, a home page etc.
By the end of your internship, you are expected to present your “results” or “findings” for the company or organization that you have worked for. In this presentation you must use your acquired academic competences but at the same time present your insights in ways that make sense to the organization in question.
On the basis of your internship, at written report must be submitted to the university. It should include a brief description of your project and deal with reflections on the course of the internship and the presentation for the organization. You need to address what you have learned about organization and communication during your internship.
Grace Teresa Allendes, MACA 10: Internship in Bolivia 2011
During a period of ten weeks I worked as an intern at a Development NGO in Bolivia (ECAM). I learned about its operation by taking part in daily activities and conducting a specific research project. The project was ordered by the organization and had as aim to identify the pros and cons of the existing conditions for a potential strategic alliance between women from the rural and urban areas of Tarija. Located within the department of Political Rights I was also asked to help the staff with the workshops that they conduct both in the city and the countryside. I wrote an article for ECAM´s monthly journal on behalf of the department and participated in activities such as protests and meetings with authorities. By joining the department as labor force and simultaneously conducting the research I had the opportunity to gain a deep understanding of the organization and collect for my master’s thesis.