Internships put UPNG students into real workplaces before they graduate. This page is for employers who can host a student, and for students looking for a placement.
An intern is a low-risk way to see a graduate work before you commit to hiring one. Students arrive with current technical training and no habits from your industry, and most host organisations end up recruiting from the students they have supervised.
For the student, a placement is often the difference between a degree and a job. Several programmes require supervised practical experience to complete, and the University cannot graduate those students without host organisations.
The forms of placement UPNG students undertake. Fields and durations vary by School.
Four to eight weeks of full-time work over the long semester break, on a defined piece of work with a named supervisor. The most common arrangement.
A placement that forms part of a degree and is assessed by the School — clinical placements in health sciences, teaching rounds in education, legal attachments in law.
Honours and postgraduate students attached to a laboratory, agency or field programme, contributing to work related to their thesis.
Employers running graduate programmes recruit from final-year cohorts through campus presentations, listed vacancies and interviews held on campus.
The steps below are for employers. Students should start with their School's practicum coordinator.
Write to Career Services with the field, the number of students, the period, the work they would do and who would supervise them.
One well-supervised placement is worth more than four unsupervised ones.
The School circulates the opportunity to students in the relevant discipline and forwards you a shortlist with academic records and a brief statement from each.
You interview and select. The placement agreement covers supervision, hours, safety induction, confidentiality, any allowance and how the student will be assessed.
The student works to your normal standards and hours. The School's coordinator stays in contact and will step in early if anything is not working.
You complete a short supervisor's report on the student's performance. For assessed practicums this contributes to the student's grade.
If you are a UPNG student looking for a placement:
Career Services coordinates placements with the Schools and is the first point of contact for host organisations.
Career Services — Student Placements
Placement types, durations and periods on this page are indicative and vary by School and programme.