Industrial Internship (Extended)

You will be working in a Chemical Engineering related organization for approximately 4 months (either full time or the equivalent time part-time). Your Master Chemical Engineering knowledge is necessary for the project.

The industrial internship is guided by an internal (TU Delft) and an external (company) supervisor. The assessment of the internship is done by these two supervisors. The assessment is based on a series of criteria, including an individual report of the student, in which the experiences concerning the main goals, including the experience in the working environment are discussed.

During the industrial internship you are expected to get to know the organization. To do so, you need to start gathering information about the organization of your choice prior to the start and make a list of questions you would like to have answered. During the internship you need to make time to get acquainted with other departments within the organization and interview, for example, a number of people in different parts of the organization.

IMPORTANT:

• It is desirable for the internship to have a Chemical Engineering content. However, in some cases it may be acceptable if this component is lacking, provided that the work requires problem solving or design skills for a chemical engineer.

• The criteria formulated above do not exclude activities in a startup company (maybe initiated by the student) to be accepted as internships. The criterion is that there should be an internship supervisor with sufficiently strong involvement to be able to act as such.

• The internship is in principle intended as a way for students to broaden their awareness of working environments outside academia. This excludes certain organisations (see below).

For very good students who aspire a career in academia, a possibility for an academic internship is through a grant from the Justus and Louise van Effen fund, which is restricted to very good students and which provides funding for internships at top-20 engineering universities only. For more information, see https://www.tudelft.nl/en/student/study-and-career/study-internship-abroad/funding-scholarships/justus-louise-van-effen-research-grant/.

The student is responsible for finding an internship position. The Internship Office TNW only has an assisting, coordinating and administrative role.

We therefore advice students to start looking for an internship well in advance:

• International students are advised to start the orientation process during the first year of their Master.

• Dutch students are advised to start the orientation process at least 6 months in advance if planning to stay in the Netherlands, and at least 9 months if planning to go abroad.

Allowed: Business, chemical engineering content; TNO (or foreign equivalents such as Fraunhofer Gesellschaft); ECN; NFI; patent office; consultancy (provided technical / quantitative); financial analysis (provided strong quantitative, or related to financing a chemical plant or business).

Not allowed: university, Dutch or abroad (except with van Effen grant, see above); FOM institute (such as Amolf, NIKHEF, DIFFER) and foreign equivalents (such as Max Planck Institut, ICFO); Academic hospital (unless practical work is done similar to an internship that could be done in a 'normal' hospital, and not in combination with a thesis project in a (different) academic hospital); Nationale Denktank. Exceptions are only possible if there are special reasons, after approval of the Board of Examiners.

If the Board of Examiners has given permission to do the thesis project outside the university, the internship can't be done at the same organization as the thesis project.

Beginning in academic year 2026/2027, all internships will be graded as pass/fail. This rule applies to any internship that ends after August 31, 2026.

The assessment of the internship is done by the two supervisors. The assessment is based on a series of criteria, including an individual report of the student, in which the experiences concerning the main goals, including the experience in the working environment are discussed.

For the assessment you need to submit two reports:

• A scientific report using the format and guidelines of the company for your TU Delft supervisor and company supervisor;

• An evaluation report for the internship office.

Two weeks before the end of your internship, the Internship Office TNW will send your company supervisor and TU Delft supervisor the internship review form.

Your company supervisor needs to assess your internship at the end of your internship period and send his review form to the TU Delft supervisor. Your TU Delft supervisor needs to assess your internship within two weeks after the end of your internship. Delft supervisor will then send the assessment form (including the company supervisor review form) to the Internship Office TNW.

Please consult the Internship Office TNW/AS Brightspace page for the detailed grading scheme.

Your assessment will be processed as soon as the Internship Office TNW has received:

• The review form with an original signature from both supervisors. Your supervisors can request the review form by sending an email to InternshipOffice-TNW@tudelft.nl

• A digital copy of both reports.

When the nature of the project requires so, it is possible to censor parts of the report. Details like numbers and names may be left out of the report (or striked-through), for example, as long as the report represents the achievements of the project and the TU Delft supervisor is able to assess the internship.