Student Professional
Experience
One of the distinctive characteristics of our curriculum is that of our structure of 3-training cycle quarters. At the end of each quarter there is a required professional experience (internship) students must complete in a field/ business complementary to that of their career path, and their final cycle culminates to the successful completion of a full-time project developed at a company/ institution of respective to the students’ career path (professional residency).
The idea behind this alternating model is to give students the opportunity to develop as professionals- to put into practice the knowledge, skills, know-how, attitudes, and values that are taught at the university during the previous cycles, and to face real work problems, and situations- giving flexibility and relevance to the programme by having students fulfill talent necessities within local production sectors.
Professional Competences
Model
Professional
Internship
Internships, as part of the school’s curriculum, are aimed to provide practical, hands-on experiences for students, with relation with their field of study, during which they are able to further develop the skills introduced during the previous corresponding quarter.
Internships take place at the end of each training quarter, and have a duration of 3 weeks, full-time (120 hours). The first internship experience is carried out at the end of the 4th quarter, and the second internship experience is carried out at the end of the 7th quarter.
Internships may be completed at the UPY, organizations within the service and production sectors, or research institutions -both private and/or public-, as long as they are appropriate for the professional profile sought by the educational programme.
The University will also assign each student to an internship counselor, whose duty will be to guide students to appropriately incorporate a report of the activities carried out during the internship. In addition, students will be required to report an advisor within the organization where the student will be completing their professional experience.
Professional Residency
The Professional Residency, which is completed in the final quarter of a students’ academic career, is a period in which students- in accordance with their professional development- encapsulate their educational programme experiences to formulate a project within a local institution or organization.
This quarter has a duration of 13 to 15 weeks- during which, the student must develop a project amed to solve a problem within their respective institution or organization. This is equivalent to the social service requirement most degrees require of students to graduate.