ATAP - Information for Students

Pre-requisites and Eligibility

In order to be eligible to apply for ATAP, students should have completed/are currently registered for the following courses:

• IS2101 Business and Technical Communication; or
  CS2101 Effective Communication for Computing Professionals; or
  ES2531 Critical Thinking and Writing or ES2631 Critique and Communication of Thinking and Design for CEG students from AY2021-22 cohort onwards who have not taken ES2531; and

• CS2103/CS2103T Software Engineering; or 
  CS2113/T Software Engineering & Object-Oriented Programming; or
  IS3106 Enterprise Systems Interface Design and Development; or
  BT3103 Application Systems Development for Business Analytics

To get the most out of your internship experience, it is preferably recommended that you have completed the following courses:

• BT4103 Business Analytics Capstone Project; or
• IS4103 Information Systems Capstone Project; or
• CS3203 Software Engineering Project; or

• (CS3281 Thematic Systems Project I and CS3282 Thematic Systems Project II)

The following categories of students are not allowed to register for ATAP:

• Students taking other courses in the special term.
• Students who are doing UROP (CP3209).
• Students doing CP4106 Computing Project.
• Students doing CP4101 BComp Dissertation/BT4101 BSc. Dissertation [also known as Final Year Project (FYP)]. Students are not allowed to concurrently do FYP with ATAP. Conversion of ATAP related work to FYP is not permitted, irrespective of how good the ATAP-work is.

Internship during Final Semester

Year 4 students in their graduating semester who need to complete ATAP during their final academic term/semester would need to submit an appeal. Since you will only get the actual grades in the Special Term, your degree will be conferred on 31 August and you will join the Commencement ceremony in the following year.

Please refer to:http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/academic-activities/graduation

The following table reflects the course arrangements for ATAP:

 *Note: You do not need to pay the NUS Special Term Fees for having the ATAP course registered during the Special Terms.

Internship Timelines

January to June

 May to November

Application

Eligible students may put in their applications via the NUS TalentConnect Portal.

• Select Computing Internships

Please also note that:

• Students will be contacted by the employers directly if they are shortlisted for interviews.
• Students should take note that some companies may have restrictions for certain internship positions, including that the student must be a Singapore citizen. In such cases, only students who meet the special requirement will be able to view the project details.
• All internship offers by employers will be made through the NUS TalentConnect portal. Thereafter, students have up to 5 working days to respond before these offers are withdrawn by the system.
• Students MUST  accept their offers via the NUS TalentConnect portal to be qualified/ approved for internships.
• On acceptance of a project, no changes will be entertained. 

Students who have accepted an internship and subsequently withdraw their acceptance (whether verbal, email, contractual, or on NUS TalentConnect), or fail to complete the attachment with their host organisation, will receive an "Unsatisfactory" grade for CP3880: Advanced Technology Attachment Programme (ATAP) on the transcript. Students will also be barred from taking ATAP internships for the affected semester.

Self-Initiated Internship Application

Students who had obtained their own internships and wish to request for the conversion of their internship into ATAP should inform the companies to post the internship position in the NUS TalentConnect portal hosted by NUS Centre for Future-Ready Graduates (CFG). 

If the company does not currently have an account on NUS TalentConnect portal, please get them to register their company here.

Queries on the NUS TalentConnect portal may be channelled totalentconnect@nus.edu.sg.

Please inform the company to post the ATAP position on TalentConnect under ‘Internship – School of Computing’ and the ATAP work term.

Students will have to obtain the 6-digit job ID from the company and submit this form http://tinyurl.com/SelfSourcedInternship after the position has been posted for us to review and process.

Detailed instructions can be found in the announcements page under "Computing Internships" upon login at the NUS TalentConnect portal.

IMPORTANT: Students are responsible for ensuring the company puts in the project in the system by 3 Nov 2023 for ATAP Jan - Jun 2024 . Please inform us at AskIR@comp.nus.edu.sg should you not be able to secure any internships by 3 Nov 2023.

*All internships need to be recorded in the NUS TalentConnect system (BEFORE you commence) if you wish to earn units. No retrospective conversion is allowed.  
*Your self-sourced internships will have to fall between our official ATAP period in order to be considered for conversion into ATAP.  Slight variations of around 1 or 2 weeks from the official internship start date is still acceptable provided the minimum internship period is met. 

Assessment Criteria and Deliverables

Aside from your company supervisor, students will be assigned an academic supervisor who will be assessing their progress during your internship.

1) Internship Objectives

At the start of your internship, students will have to work with your company, and academic supervisors to come up with a self-defined learning objective for the internship. Students will then have to submit the learning objective in the Project Admin System for the company and academic supervisor’s approval. The objective will not be deemed as accepted until the approval from both the company and academic supervisors are indicated in the system.

The Learning Objective should beset within 2 weeks after the start of the internship. Each student needs to identify at least one objective each in the following categories:

• Deliverables
  Based on the company’s requirements on the job scope. The objective for deliverables has to be related to your degree programme.
• Technical Skills
  This covers the ability to solve technical problems related to the job scope. 
  Example: Job task is to design a time-critical program. The Technical Skill objective could be to aim to improve algorithm design skills so that program runs efficiently.
• Life Skills
  Soft skills which help in ensuring a successful internship. Examples of Life Skill objective could be to aim to improve presentation skills since presenting weekly updates to your company supervisor is required. Other Life Skills could include negotiation skills, communication skills, time management skills, problem solving skills, etc.

Students will need to propose a strategy to achieve your stated Objectives, and also include a method of evaluation to measure improvements.

Students will be able to modify their Learning Objective after 3 months. Students will need to discuss the revised objective with their company and academic supervisors, and have their approval for the updated Objectives. 

Students will need to evaluate if they had achieved their Learning Objective at the end of their internship.

2) Assessment Matrix

Your assessment will be based on the following:

1. Amount of value delivered to the company
2. Technical knowledge/skills demonstrated during the internship
3. Office soft skills demonstrated during the internship
4. Compliance with expected professional standards and ethics in the workplace
5. Verbal communication skills
6. Written communication skills
7. Understanding of the business in the company you are interning with (company structure/process workflow, career progression/path in the company)

Assessment will be based on the student’s written report, feedback from the company supervisor, and the face-to-face presentation with the assigned academic supervisor.

3) Feedback from Supervisor
Your company supervisor will be able to give you ad hoc feedback on your progress at work via the online system aside from the end-of-internship feedback. Company supervisors will be able to trigger feedback to you, or your company supervisor at any time during your internship.

4) Monthly Progress Report 
Aside from the interim and final reports, you are expected to submit a monthly progress report which will be viewable by both the company and academic supervisors. Your academic supervisors may add their comments if they want to, but they will not be required to endorse or verify monthly progress reports. Monthly progress reports will comprise the work done for the month, and your personal reflections.

4.1) Interim Report

An interim report will have to be submitted after the 3rd month of the internship. The report will cover (1) the current progress of your internship project, (2) the current status of your self-designed objective, (3) any problem and challenges. The project report format may be found here. 

4.2) Final Report

Students will have to submit a final report at the end of their internship which will cover (1) the work done in your internship project, (2) the achievement of your self-designed objective, (3) any problem and challenges, (4) career path. The Final Report should contain the summarised version of your Interim Report and the continuation from there. 

*Note that even though you may be working on the same project with the same company, as another student, project reports need to be written individually in your own words. Students will be investigated for plagiarism If the reports are found to be too similar.

A copy of your interim and final report must also be uploaded to the Digital Library https://dl.comp.nus.edu.sg by the same deadline stated.

5) Presentation to academic supervisor

You will be required to give a short presentation to your academic supervisor at the end of your internship. You will be responsible for contacting your academic supervisor to make the arrangements for the presentation. Please discuss with your academic supervisor the format and contents of the presentation (length of your presentation, content/focus of the presentation, will slides be required, etc). We suggest that you make the arrangements for the presentation with your academic supervisor from 2 weeks before the end of your internship in order to be able to have sufficient time to fix a presentation date while allowing yourself time to complete your internship report before the submission deadline.

Ad-hoc Feedback

Students are able to submit ad-hoc feedback to the School/academic supervisor/company supervisor if they encounter problems during their internship. In the ad-hoc feedback, the intended receiver has to be indicated to ensure it gets to the correct party.

Additional Courses

As ATAP is a full-time attachment programme, students on attachment should, in principle, not take other courses offered by the University. Special consideration may be granted to students who wish to take one or two courses on a part-time basis, if they have the approval of the host company and the respective course coordinator. Students must ensure that they obtain written approval (in the form of an email) from the host company and the respective course coordinator before they can proceed with course registration in EduRec. 

Students from Cohorts 2021-22 and after who require to fulfil the Communities and Engagement pillar under the University Level Requirement (such as GEN% or related courses offered by UTCP, NUSC, etc.) will be allowed to read ATAP concurrently if their service hours are carried out during evenings and weekends during the internship attachment period.

Students will be allowed to carry out service work during daytime (3-4 hours a week) on weekdays concurrently with ATAP, subject to employer’s approval.

Please note that:

• You are responsible for managing your internship and school workload. The School will not be held responsible if you are not able to cope with either your studies or the internship.
• You will be responsible for dropping any additional courses you may have (other than CP3880). If you are found to have any additional courses without the respective approvals, the School reserves the right to remove any of the additional courses that you are registered to.
• Neither your internship company nor the course coordinator is obligated to provide their approval for you to take courses.
• While course coordinator gives consent to do his/her course but you still need to bid and secure the course via CourseReg. Consent does not mean outright course allocation.
• You are not permitted to take courses during Special Term with the exception of courses under the Communities and Engagement pillar.

Leave and Time-Off to attend to School Matters

Students may be granted leave at the host organisation's discretion. For non-official matters that are beyond the scope of project work with the organisation, the organisation has the right to deduct their pay; however, this policy may vary from organisation to organisation. Students are advised to abide closely by the Human Resource practices of the organisation.

Students should request permission from the host organisation to attend to school matters such as registration of courses, etc.

Paid vacation leave for students can only be granted at the discretion of the organisation.

Supervisors

Each student project will be co-supervised by the organisation's supervisor and an academic supervisor from the School.

Dress Code and Reporting Procedure on the First Day of Attachment

Students should dress appropriately in office attire and take with them their identification Card, Bank Account Number, Bank Name and Branch. 

Reservist (In-camp training)

Students who are required to go on reservist training need to inform the School (attn:AskIR@comp.nus.edu.sg) and the host organisation upon receipt of their reservist training notification. Students who have received reservist training notification prior to accepting an internship offer must inform both ATAP Admin Office and the host organisation before accepting the internship offer.SoC will not request for reservist training deferment on behalf of students going on ATAP.

Medical Leave

Students are to inform their supervisor at the organisation if they are sick or need to consult a doctor. They are not to take leave of absence without their supervisor's prior knowledge. Students on medical leave will need to submit a medical certificate to their supervisor.

Allowance

Students will be paid a minimum amount of S$1,200/- per month*. Organisations are exempted from making CPF contributions.
*Applicable to students starting their internships from May 2020 onwards. 

Insurance

Students are strongly encouraged to purchase their own insurance policy before going for their industrial attachment. However, it is compulsory for students going for overseas ATAP to purchase additional insurance with a more comprehensive coverage.

Overseas Visa

Students on overseas attachment may need to apply for a visa from the host country. For that purpose, students should request an offer letter from the organisation, which should be submitted to the local embassy/high commission/consulate with the necessary application forms and other support documents.

Disclaimer of Liability

The School will not be held liable or responsible for any damage to properties and/or injuries suffered during attachment.

Tuition Fees

Although students will not attend lectures and tutorials on campus during the attachment period, they are given formal units.  When students are claiming units as part of the curriculum, they need to register with the university and pay the tuition fees for that unit to be formally recognised. 

Tuition fees are not computed based on actual hours of services students received nor the facilities they actually use. It is based on the cost of providing students with the complete education needed to graduate, including both resource-intensive and not so resource-intensive components, divided among semesters. Besides, students on ATAP can continue to access facilities, e.g., medical services, the library, computer and sports facilities. In some instances, students need to make use of such facilities during their industrial attachment.

Termination of Internship

Employers and students should complete the entire internship period or the mutually agreed upon period. 

In case of early internship termination by either party, notice must be given to NUS School of Computing before a termination notice is issued. With the termination, the student would receive an unsatisfactory grade for the internship unless special considerations are applied.

NUS School of Computing reserves the right to initiate early termination of an internship at its discretion.

Things to Note

1. A minimum period of 24 weeks is required.
2. Students who are already on ATAP are not allowed to reduce its duration to turn it into a SIP attachment.
3. Students cannot break up the period of attachment. They must serve their internship for 24 weeks between Jan-Jul or May-Oct. The internship attachment should be with one single company for the entire duration of the programme
4. Students who do not need units and do internship on their own during regular term time are required to apply for Leave of Absence (LOA). Please refer to  http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/administrative-policies-procedures/undergraduate/leave-of-absence for more information.
5. CEG students should follow the internship guidelines for CEG students. Please refer to https://ceg.nus.edu.sg/ia/
6. Students are to consider carefully, taking into account their study plans before they accept any offer because any withdrawal after acceptance is not acceptable and will result in them getting the CU grade reflected on their transcripts. 
7. We will not be able to issue you with the CPF exemption letter if you are not converting your self-sourced internship into ATAP. You may obtain such letters from the Centre for Future-Ready Graduates (http://www.nus.edu.sg/cfg/contact-us) 

**Please refer to the recommended internship guidelines for students by the Centre for Future-Ready Graduates.

Enquiries

Student enquiries may be directed to: AskIR@comp.nus.edu.sg.