Forest Internship Project

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject involves definition and development of an industry-related project, and develops skills in project management, problem solving and planning and reporting investigations. The subject aims to provide students with a high-level employment experience with government, industry or non-governmental organization (NGO). Students will develop a good understanding of employer expectations of forest science graduates in the work environment and the skills required to function with excellence in the workplace.

Students will be required; with assistance from the subject coordinator, to source both a host-industry and academic supervisor (within the Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science) in their area of interest and define a project in consultation with them. This project may relate to an applied scientific, economic or sociological or managerial topic. Each student will prepare a Project Plan which includes the relevant information regarding the projects aims, context in relation to industry, approaches to be used, relevant background knowledge and potential outputs to their host-industry.

Students will then spend a period of 4-6 weeks working on their project, including any possible time off site within their host-industry. Students will work in close collaboration with the host-industry and academic supervisor during this period. At the completion of the project work, students will be required to submit a Project Main Report on the work they have undertaken and the relevant finding that have come from it. Students will also be required to present their findings to an audience, including host-industry members, as part of the Project Seminar.

This subject aims, through the completion of a defined project, to:

• Provide the student with opportunities to relate their formal academic learning to industry practices, problems or issues.
• Teach the student how to effectively design a project that identifies and provides knowledge toward practices, problems or issues affecting industry; to implement and manage the project; and to report on the project findings, including recommendations to the Industry.
• Provide experiences and encouragement that promotes professionalism in the student and a desire to continue in their chosen career.

Project Plan (approx 2000 words) 25%, Project Main Report (approx 5000 words) 60%, Project Seminar (20-30 mins) 15%

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.