Internship

INTERNSHIP GUIDE

Application Process and General Information

The curriculum of the Department of Genetics and Bioengineering includes a compulsory internship of at least 20 working days as a graduation requirement. Students may complete their compulsory internship during the summer break of their second year, the winter or summer breaks of their third year, or the winter break of their fourth year. The internship, either in full or in part, cannot be completed during the academic semester while courses are ongoing.

In addition to compulsory internships, our department also supports applications for voluntary internships. Applications for voluntary internships are made in the same way as applications for compulsory internships.

Attendance of at least 90% is compulsory for internships; otherwise, the internship will be considered invalid. The minimum 20-day rule applies to both voluntary and compulsory internships. However, if suitable for both the student and the host institution, and provided that the internship does not overlap with the student’s course period, it is possible to complete an internship longer than 20 days, such as 30, 40, or 60 days. Applications for internships shorter than 20 days are not evaluated unless there is a special reason.

A student may complete more than one internship during their education at IUE, such as two, three, four, or more internships; however, only one internship can be counted as “compulsory.” The student may decide at the end of the internship whether to submit the internship for evaluation by the commission as a compulsory internship. If the procedures regarding the completion of the internship, as described below, are not completed within the specified time period, the student’s internship will be considered “voluntary.”

To find an internship, students must prepare a CV and a letter of intent and apply individually to relevant institutions, taking into consideration the “internship scope” described below. Students may apply to institutions that offer internship programmes, or they may contact, by e-mail, the managers of projects that personally interest them. If the internship is abroad, the student may benefit from the Erasmus+ internship programme.

After receiving verbal acceptance for an internship from the relevant institution, and before starting the internship application process, the relevant webpage of our university must be carefully read, and the application must be made as explained there:

https://kariyer.ieu.edu.tr/tr/staj-basvuru-kilavuzu

The application must be completed at least two weeks before the internship begins. THE INTERNSHIP APPLICATION PROCESS WILL BE CARRIED OUT ENTIRELY ELECTRONICALLY THROUGH THE INTERNSHIP MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SYS). You can access this application system through the following link:

https://staj.izmirekonomi.edu.tr/login

The internship application will first be approved through the system by the Career Center and then by the institution where the internship will be completed.

IMPORTANT: Before submitting an internship application through SYS, an explanation regarding the content of the internship application must be sent by e-mail to the Chair of the Internship Commission, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cihangir YANDIM (cihangir.yandim@ieu.edu.tr). This internship explanation must follow the format below. Based on this explanation, your application will be evaluated through Oasis. If additional information is requested regarding the explanation you have written, or if your application is not found suitable, you will be contacted through your IUE e-mail account. You will be informed regarding the suitability of your application. All e-mails related to the internship must be sent from institutional IUE webmail addresses. Otherwise, they will not be taken into consideration.

The content of the e-mail must be in the form of a petition and must follow the format below:

“To the Internship Commission of the Department of Genetics and Bioengineering, İzmir University of Economics

As a Genetics and Bioengineering student of our university with student number ……(student number)……., I would like to complete my compulsory / voluntary internship (one of these should be written) between …..(date)……. and ……(date)……. at the institution named ………………….(name of institution)…………………………………. in the ……………………………………. department / laboratory. The work I will carry out within the scope of the internship includes the topics of ………(names of topics)……… . In this regard, I believe that I will have the opportunity to practise the knowledge I have learned or will learn in our department’s courses coded …….(GBE-coded courses)………………. .

I submit my internship application for your evaluation.”

No wet signatures will be provided by our department at any stage of the internship process; the approval process will proceed through SYS and e-mail.

It is important to check the insurance registration through e-Devlet on the first day of the internship.

Internship Scope

Students of the Department of Genetics and Bioengineering may complete their compulsory internships in laboratory, R&D, production, and similar departments of private-sector companies operating in the fields of genetics, bioengineering, biotechnology, bioinformatics, life sciences, and related areas, as well as in research institutions such as university laboratories.

Internship applications for positions in departments such as marketing and sales, or internships planned to focus on such topics, will not be accepted within the scope of compulsory internships. Only internships related to ALL GBE-CODED COURSES specific to our department, as well as the courses coded BME301, BME307, BME310, BME311, BME315, BME408, BME413, BME420, BME425, and MED260, will be accepted.

For voluntary internships, applications for internships carried out in marketing/sales and similar departments of institutions related to “Genetics and Bioengineering” may also be taken into consideration. Under all circumstances, the suitability of the internship will be decided by the Internship Commission.

Preparation of the Internship Report and Internship Diary

An internship report and diary must be prepared only for compulsory internships. They are not required for voluntary internships.

The internship report consists of a cover page, table of contents, abstract, main report text, and appendices, if any. In addition to the answers to the questions to be answered in the internship report, the main report text must include an internship diary written for each working day, not exceeding one page per working day.

The language of the internship report is English only. After the answers to the questions given below, a detailed Internship Diary must be included in the internship report. The rationale of the work carried out, and its hypothesis and logic, if any, must be provided together with literature information and references. The AMA format system must be used for referencing.

Students may distribute the literature/rationale/motivation/hypothesis explanations across the internship days, or they may present them as a separate section before the internship diary. In addition, figures, images, and tables related to the work carried out must be included.

If the host institution does not consider it appropriate to share the results obtained, the molecules or genes studied may be referred to using the symbol “X” without providing their names. Photographs of equipment or photographs of the student while working may only serve as supporting material. Analysis results must definitely be included. For example, microscopic images of analysed cells, PCR analysis results, Western blot images, HPLC results, etc. Mathematical information on how the analysis was performed must also be presented. After each analysis result presented, the result must be discussed.

Each page of the internship report must be approved with a wet signature by the internship supervisor. The report must then be professionally scanned and saved in PDF format, with the student’s name included in the file name, and sent to the Internship Commission by e-mail in this form. The details are provided below in the final section. Reports submitted as photographs will not be accepted; only professionally scanned reports will be accepted. Reports that do not comply with these criteria will not be accepted.

Questions to be Answered in the Internship Report

QUESTION 1 - Give the following information about the institution where you performed your internship.

2 pages at most:

• Name and address of the institution
• Its field of activity
• Short history of the institution that introduces the development of the institution
• Upper institution it is affiliated with, if any, and existing facilities
• Number of employees in the institution and their classification according to their qualifications: worker, technician, engineer, administrative personnel, etc.
• For manufacturer enterprises: produced goods, production capacity, basic raw materials, material supply methods, annual production amounts, and target markets. For research institutions: specify ongoing and completed projects, publications, patents, etc.
• For service enterprises: services provided, service capacity, basic inputs, and target markets.

QUESTION 2 - By drawing the organizational chart of the institution, please state which units fulfil production/service and general business administration functions, as well as the relations, authority, and responsibilities between the departments. The organizational chart can be requested from the internship supervisors of the institution where the internship is held, or it can be prepared by the interns using their observations and acquired knowledge.

QUESTION 3 - Did you have a chance to use a foreign language during your internship? What was this foreign language? Please answer in Yes/No format and specify which languages you used. Explain your answer.

QUESTION 4 - State your ideas and suggestions that could increase efficiency in the processes of production and service at the institution where you completed your internship.

QUESTION 5 - Please list the duties you performed throughout your internship and explain what applications you carried out for these duties. Give a list of tasks and brief explanations of your role(s) for each task.

QUESTION 6 - What kind of work that you performed during this internship could be related to the theoretical and applied knowledge you gained at the Department of Genetics and Bioengineering at IUE? Specify clearly. Give examples for each point. Mention at least five different points.

QUESTION 7 - Please explain, in one paragraph, what this internship contributed to your personal development.

INTERNSHIP DIARY

At the end of the internship report, you should provide your internship diary. Prepare an internship diary that consists of at most one page for each and every working day of your internship. Make sure that the internship diary is written in an academic format and that each day is given with dates. Attach visuals, such as pictures, diagrams, tables, graphs, etc., when needed, but make sure they are prepared to suit the report format and serve the content. Any references should be in AMA format.

Completion of the Internship (Only for Compulsory Internships)

After the internship, all documents must be submitted by e-mail, and no documents will be accepted by hand. However, students are advised to keep the original documents in their own archives.

Within 10 working days at the latest after the end of the internship, both the internship report and diary, as well as the “Internship Place Evaluation Form” (https://kariyer.ieu.edu.tr/tr/formlar), must be sent to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cihangir Yandım (cihangir.yandim@ieu.edu.tr) from the student’s e-mail address with the “std.ieu.edu.tr” extension. If the files are too large for the system, Dropbox or Drive links may be added to the prepared e-mail content so that the recipient can download them. Reports that are not prepared according to the specified writing rules will not be evaluated. The Internship Commission may request that certain parts be rewritten if deemed necessary.

In addition, the “Intern Evaluation Form” must be personally sent to our Internship Commission by the authorized person at the host institution within 10 working days at the latest after the end of the internship. The intern student is responsible for forwarding the current Intern Evaluation Form (https://kariyer.ieu.edu.tr/tr/formlar) to the authorized person at the institution where the internship was completed.

Following the completion of the internship, this form, filled out by the authorized persons at the institution, must be personally sent by e-mail from the institutional e-mail address of the relevant authorized person to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cihangir Yandım (cihangir.yandim@ieu.edu.tr). Only intern evaluation forms sent from institutional e-mail accounts will be taken into consideration. Intern evaluation forms sent by regular mail or delivered by hand will not be accepted.

If the Intern Evaluation Form is sent directly from the institutional e-mail account of the internship supervisor, it does not need to be additionally signed with a wet signature. The intern student must not see the content of the Intern Evaluation Form filled out by the authorized person.

Your internship evaluation result will be communicated to you by the Internship Commission, and your grade will be entered in the following grading period. There is only an “S” grade, meaning “satisfied”; it is not included in the letter grading system. The results of internships completed during the summer may take until the end of the following fall semester to be reflected in the system. Similarly, internships completed during the winter break may take until the end of the spring semester to be reflected in the system.

For voluntary internships, no documents need to be prepared or submitted after the completion of the internship.

Among the places where our students are accepted for internship, there are leading universities and research institutions from Turkey and abroad, as well as private sector companies: