COMP3410/COMP3412
Internship (2023-24)

As an engineering student, you must gain working experience in your field of study before you graduate. Such real-world experience is an important and necessary complement to your academic training. COMP3410 / COMP3412 (Internship) embodies this and establishes it as a formal part of your BEng(CompSc) programme.

To satisfy the degree requirement, you must spend a minimum of four weeks in a full-time IT position. Most summer internships actually span a longer period – 10 to 12 weeks is common. During this period, you can expect:

• to gain solid, practical experience related to your studies;
• to contribute your knowledge to the solution of real-world problems;
• to become familiar with the modern IT workplace;
• to acquire an appreciation of professional conduct and practice.

This period of training brings many benefits. For example, relevant working experience gives you a distinct advantage when you seek employment as a fresh graduate. You can also make valuable contacts for your future career. Employers often invite their interns to continue working beyond the summer as part-time staff. In many cases, this leads to the offer of a full-time position upon graduation. More importantly, you can gain first-hand experience of software development as it is actually practised, and of the effect of real-world constraints such as schedule, budget and available technology. This adds an important dimension to your engineering education. These are just a few of the benefits reported by students. In our experience, students value these weeks spent working in their field of expertise.

Who must take COMP3410 / COMP3412?

All students pursuing the BEng(CompSc) degree must pass COMP3410 / COMP3412 as a requirement for graduation. This is true for both the single degree programme and the BBA(IS)/BEng(CS) double degree programme.

When must you take COMP3410 / COMP3412?

To gain maximum benefit from the Internship, you must already possess a strong foundation of CS knowledge. Consequently, you may take COMP3410 / COMP3412 only after completing the major part of your studies. Students in the 3-year / 4-year programme may not take the course until they have completed their second / third year of studies. Students in the double degree BBA(IS)/BEng(CS) programme must wait until they have completed their BBA(IS) programme.

How do you satisfy the Internship requirement?

The Internship requirement may be satisfied in one of two ways: either by completing a summer industrial internship, or by joining the Integrated Study-Work Programme and taking a full-year sandwich internship.

Summer Industrial Internships

This is the most common way in which students satisfy the requirement. If you choose this path you will spend 4 weeks to 3 months in full-time employment during the summer break. Most students take internships located in or around Hong Kong. This, however, is not a requirement and we encourage you to apply for internships outside of the region.

Sandwich (Study-Work) Internships

You may use a relevant part of your 12-14 month internship to satisfy the Internship requirement. You still must deliver an Internship report covering that specific period (see below) and you will be assessed in the same way as summer industrial interns. You can consult this document for more information on the IWSP.

What criteria must a job satisfy to qualify for COMP3410 / COMP3412?

The job must be in the field of IT, preferably involving software development and working under the supervision of an experienced IT professional. You should not be the only IT person working in the company and, ideally, you will work as a member of a team. You must attend your employer's place of work and keep regular full-time hours. For the purposes of the Internship, the sector (e.g. investment banking and finance, commerce, education, government, game development, etc.) is not important.

As a rule of thumb, if the main focus of the job is something we teach in our CS courses, then the job will most likely be suitable for an Internship. On the other hand, if it is not something we teach, then it probably won't qualify. It is usually quite straightforward to determine whether or not a particular job can satisfy the Internship requirements.

For example, the following do not satisfy the criteria:

• Computer sale
• Data entry
• Web page graphical designer
• Helpdesk support
• General office duties
• Part-time work
• Freelance work

If you are not sure about a particular internship, please contact the teacher-in-charge for advice.

How to find an internship?

It is your responsibility to seek and secure a suitable internship. The University and the department provide a number of services to help you; most of our students find their industrial placement through one of these channels.

• One of the sources is our own internal Placement Database and summer Jobs newsgroup <hku.cs.summerjob>. Here we post opportunities that come to us directly from our contacts in the industry. We also post internships forwarded by CEDARS, which require nominations from the department.
• The best source is the careers service offered by the Centre of Development and Resources for Students (CEDARS). We work closely with CEDARS and they post and process many requests from companies seeking IT interns.
• You can find internships through the JIJIS system or, for internships on the mainland, the China Affairs Office (CAO).

Recruitment activity reaches a peak during the months of April and May. Industrial sponsors will usually select interns on the strength of their resumes and interview performance. After accepting an internship, you will sign an agreement with the sponsor. We expect you to honour that agreement. Any problems encountered during training should be reported to the department before you take action; breaking an agreement without the department's prior approval will be treated as a serious breach of professional conduct.

Tell us about your internship.

When you have secured a placement please let us know by updating your placement record in the Placement Database. Once you logged on to the Placement Database, you can find the "My Placement Record" button on the menu pane. We need to know who has a job and who hasn't. This is quite important – if we don't have a record of your placement you will fail COMP3410 / COMP3412.

Please note that you MUST provide the following information:

• Company Name
• Nature of work (job description)
• Start date and end date of the Internship
• Working Location
• Supervisor Name (you may send these later after you have started work)
• Supervisor Telephone and Email (you may send these later after you have started work)
• It is a paid / unpaid internship
• Salary (if is paid, give us the monthly salary)

Reporting and Assessment

You are required to write a training report of approximately 1000 words outlining the work you performed and providing a description and evaluation of the IT practices used by the organization. Independently, your supervisor/employer may report back to HKU on your professionalism and on the quality of your work. Assessment in COMP3410 / COMP3412 is based on these two reports and is recorded as Pass or Fail.

Suggested contents of your Internship report are as follows (actual contents will vary depending on the nature of the internship):

• a brief description of the organization and the department for which you worked;
• a description of your responsibilities during the internship;
• a description of the work performed and work products you delivered;
• a description and assessment of the technical substances (e.g., technologies, software development practices, etc.) used by the company;
• suggestions for improving those practices;
• an assessment of the value of the internship and of the experience gained.

Please include the following information as the header of your report:

• Student Name
• Student Number
• Company Name
• Job Title / Position
• Internship Period (Starting Date to Ending Date)

Collect Employer's/Supervisor's Feedback

Feedback is information about a student’s development. Students benefit from feedback when they understand the required standard; how their existing performance compares to this standard and; what they need to do to achieve a higher standard. Therefore, It is important for students to obtain feedback for their growth and development. 

The department has prepared a questionnaire for obtaining feedback from supervisor/employer. The feedback collected will contribute to the assessment of the course. It is important for students to inform their supervisors on this requirement.

At the start of your internship, present the following "Consent Form" to your supervisor. All students are required to return the completed Consent Form to the Department's Internship Coordinator within the first two weeks of the placements.

• Download Consent Form [ Word | PDF ]

On the last week of your internship, present the following "Feedback Form" to your supervisor. Invite them to return the completed form within two weeks after the internship.

• Download Employer's Feedback Form