African Studies - AFRI 499

Purpose
Eligibility Requirements
Work to be Completed
Approval Procedure
Human Subject Research
Grades
Contacts


Purpose

The Arts Internship course will provide a vehicle for allowing students who pursue approved internships to gain up to 3 credits towards their degrees. With a university grant, the Faculty of Arts has helped develop departmental databases listing internship opportunities to be made available on departmental websites, has encouraged the forging of specific internship agreements, and is pursuing fund raising to help finance student internships. Students from each department will be directed to approved internships or will bring other internship opportunities to departmental advisers for approval.

Arts internships allow students in the Faculty of Arts to gain experience in areas relevant to their fields of study. Arts internships involve a minimum of 150 hours of work in a host institution approved by the student’s home department or program.

 

Eligibility Requirements

The Arts Internship course is only open to U2 and U3 students in good standing, normally after completing 30 credits of a 90 credit program or 45 credits of a 96 to 120 credit program. A minimum CGPA of 2.70 and permission from the departmental Internship Adviser are required. This course will normally not fulfill program requirements for seminar or 400-level courses.


 Course work to be Completed

Students must submit the following documentation:

  1. Summary of internship activities with a description of the host institution (maximum 5 pages).
  2. A letter from the supervisor at the institution attesting to successful completion of the student’s tenure.
  3. A major topical paper that discusses an aspect of the internship from an academic perspective (maximum 20 pages)

Approval Procedure

Once you have secured an internship position, complete the steps below if you wish to obtain internship course credit. The Arts Internship requires approval before the beginning of the internship. Please use the web form (Internship Academic Credit Application Web Form) to submit your documents to the Arts Internship Office.  The Faculty of Arts Internship Course Credit Approval Form (found in webform),  must be signed by:

  1. the Academic Supervisor,
  2. the Faculty of Arts Internship Officer, and
  3. the African Studies Program.

Internships will be approved as long as they are centrally concerned with program issues and contain the above-mentioned elements. The Interdisciplinary Studies Office will keep a record of approved projects but will leave the responsibility for follow-up and completion with the student and the academic supervisor. Any changes to topic and/or supervisor must be communicated to the African Studies Program Adviser. Please note that students usually register for AFRI 499 the term following completion of the internship. Students must also satisfy requirements established by the Arts Internship Office, found in the Handbook for Faculty of Arts Interns (available here. General Resources->Handbook).


Human Subject Research

Course-based research projects that require students to conduct human subject research must receive ethics review and approval. These projects differ from research in that the intent is for the student to become more knowledgeable about the research process, rather than to contribute to generalizable knowledge. The results of the data are not intended for publication or presentation outside the classroom.

The review of these applications may be delegated to the Research Ethics Board (REB) departmental representative and do not normally have to go to the regular REB. This review may not be used for projects carried out as part of a faculty member’s own research. Course projects that involve more than minimal risk, or involve minors or other vulnerable populations, must be reviewed by the REB.

To view the "Policy on the Ethical Conduct of Research Involving Human Subjects" and to complete the necessary paperwork please view the Research Ethics Requirements [.pdf].

Note: No research project, including student research, may begin before approval has been obtained from the REB. No research project will be granted retroactive approval.


Grades

A grade for the internship will be assigned by the academic supervisor, based on the agreement initially made between the student and the academic supervisor.


 Departmental Contacts

Student Adviser for International Development Studies, African Studies, Latin American & Caribbean Studies
For departmental contact information, please click here.

Back to top