Information about the internship in the degree programme Transportion Engineering
On this page, information is provided on the preliminary and specialised internship, but not on laboratory internships, etc., which must be completed as part of courses.
The internship is intended to introduce students to the work in transportation engineering by working on technical planning, operational organisation or construction tasks. Experience in various work processes contributes to mastering the entry into professional life with its diverse requirements later on. The acquisition of social skills is an important part of the internship.
The internship regulations form the basis for the internship. They are part of the special section of the Bachelor's and Master's examination regulations.
A 12-week internship is required for the Bachelor's degree programme in Transportation Engineering. Six weeks are required before the start of the degree programme (the so-called pre-study internship). A further 6 weeks must be completed during the course of study (the so-called specialised internship). These can be completed en bloc or during the semester.
For the Master's degree programme in Transportation Engineering, a further 6-week specialist internship must be completed during the degree programme.
Yes, you can also apply without a proven pre-study internship. However, the pre-study internship must then be proven by the beginning of the study programme, usually at the beginning of the first semester. The documents required for recognition can be sent to the Internship Office by post or handed in personally during the first four weeks of lectures. In justified cases, an exception is also possible. Details can be found under point 1 in the internship regulations.
The internship may include, for example, the following activities:
practical activities, e.g. measuring, testing, quality control, trials
Development and planning, e.g. cost calculation, development, design, product planning, production planning and control
Software development and operation, e.g. cost calculation, product/project planning, programming, coding, (system/programme) development, testing
Commercial and legal activities, e.g. order acquisition, customer advice, marketing, sales of technical products, occupational and plant safety, environmental law, patents and patent law.
The internship is to be completed in companies relevant to transport. These can be, for example, municipal or private transport companies, haulage firms, producers of railway or road signalling equipment, vehicle manufacturers, monitoring associations or similar. Company addresses can be found in the "Yellow Pages" or can be obtained from the vocational guidance services of the employment agencies. You can also find internship offers at the Career Service job exchange. The following is a list of companies that have agreed to offer internships for students of transport engineering:
For the implementation of the specialised internships in the Bachelor's and Master's degree programme, supervision by a lecturer from the transportation engineering degree programme is necessary. The lecturers are contacted directly by the students.
Before the start of the internship, a consultation with the lecturer is necessary in which the duration and content of the internship are discussed. The teacher issues the student with a certificate containing details of the internship company, the duration of the internship and the activity, as well as the approval of the planned internship by the teacher.
The teacher is also available to advise the student during the internship. After completion of the internship, the internship report must be reviewed by the supervising person and approved and certified for the award of credit points.
Lecturers are all persons who are marked as involved in teaching in the module handbook of the degree programme Transportation Engineering. It is recommended by the Dean of Studies to contact lecturers who are employed at an institute/professorship that has a transport-specific orientation.
The Internship Office for the degree programme in Transportation Engineering is located at the Institute of Transport and Urban Engineering. During office hours, questions regarding the recognition of a pre-study internship, doubts about the right type of company or the supervision of the specialised internship are answered. The documents required for recognition can also be handed in personally during these hours.
Interns record their activities and the experiences they have gained in an internship report.
In the pre-study internship, this consists of weekly overviews (keyword-like overview with details of daily activities) and weekly reports that describe one's own activities in more detail. The weekly reports should be at least one DIN A4 page per week plus drawings and pictures. You can download a sample report from this page or consult it at the Internship Office.
The following applies to the specialised internship: The internship report includes weekly overviews and detailed reports, which can be either weekly or structured according to sub-areas. It must be at least two A4 pages long per week. For specialised internships, the certificate of the supervising teacher(s) is also required.
The internship report must always be submitted in bound form (e.g. spiral or glue binding). The report must be preceded by a title page with all necessary information (surname, first name, matriculation number, address, date of birth, e-mail address, etc.).
At the end of the report, there must be an endorsement with the signature and stamp of the supervisor. The pages must be numbered. Unbound reports are only accepted in exceptional cases. For these, each page must be endorsed. The page number must include the total number of pages.
The company where the internship was completed must issue a certificate confirming the type and duration of the work carried out. This certificate must be submitted in the original and, if applicable, placed at the end of the report. If the certificate is not in German, a certified translation may be requested.
A journeyman's examination (or comparable examination) in a traffic-relevant occupation or the diploma certificate of a university of applied sciences can be credited as a complete internship in the Bachelor's degree under the condition that a written paper of 6-12 pages DIN A4 on the previous field of work or a subfield thereof is prepared.
Under the same condition, at least three months of work experience in a transport-relevant company following a Bachelor's or Diplom degree in an engineering degree programme can be recognised as a complete Master's internship.
Federal Volunteer Service
Activities in traffic-relevant areas can be recognised.
Working student activity
A working student activity that complies with the internship guidelines can be recognised. As a student trainee, you must also submit proof of your studies. For recognition, at least 180 working hours must be proven (6 LP/subject internship x 30 h/LP ≥ 180 h/subject internship).
Sample internship contract (e.g. on the pages of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering).
Sponsorship programme: Regular calls for applications for the Carlo-Schmid-Programme for internships in international organisations and EU institutions. The call for applications can be found on the websites of the DAAD (www.daad.de/csp) and the Studienstiftung (www.studienstiftung.de).
