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Practice Orientated Studies (18 LP)

A characteristic of the Master's in Public Economics is the practice oriented studies portion of the program. This gives you the chance to apply the knowledge you learned in lectures and seminars to the real world. Since the Master’s Program is research orientated, this gives you the chance to gain actual practical experience. In the foreground is the individual economic analysis of certain policies. 

In order to support your individual interests and career plans, you can do an internship at an external institution or your own research project with an economics professor here at the Freie Universität.

Praktikum

In an organized internship you can apply and deepen your learned knowledge in a variety of fields.

Since the internship is a mandatory component of your studies, the internship offers you the opportunity in the course of your studies to gain practice at a public institution: for example a ministry, a trade association, or a NGO. Many of these organizations only take mandatory internships. This gives you an advantage, when applying. 

The internship can be done in the long semester break during the Summer. Since many interesting positions can only be achieved in advance, you should start looking at internships by the beginning of your second semester.

  • The content of your internship must be related to your course of study. Thus, the internship must contain the economic analysis of certain policies. 

  • The internship must be around 540 working hours. With a 40 hour work week, you need to complete a 13.5 week internship period.

  • Positions as a working student or student assistant are not applicable.

  • Only internships during your Master’s and not during your Bachelor’s can be considered.

We advise you to complete the internship all at once. Since this is not always possible, you can do, in certain cases, multiple internships. Important is that 540 working hours are reached. Please consult Program Coordinator's Office beforehand.

As soon as you get a Praktikumszeugnis from your employer, you can send it to your program coordination (please include you student ID in the e-mail). When your internship has been accepted, the examination office will be informed and we will contact you directly by e-mail.

Research Project

Have you already done enough internships during your studies? Then a research project is an Alternative.

The research project consists of you completing research with a professor of economics at the Freie Univesität. The study should be in the field of Public Finance or Political Economics.

The organization is mostly decentralized. You simply contact a professor you would like to work with. There are also posted research projects to choose from.

  • The contents of the research project must be in line with your studies. So you must handle a particular policy via an economic analysis.

  • It should be around 540 working hours. 13.5 weeks with a 40 hour work week.

In the ideal case, you could be published. Otherwise, your research project can be used to develop your Master’s Thesis. Please talk to your advisor early enough about this possibility.

You can do the research project with a professor of your choosing (Lehrstuhl unseres Fachbereiches Wirtschaftswissenschaft), who gives lectures regularly for the Master’s in Public Economics. Speak with the professor of your choosing, a Seminar is usually a good means to start from.

As soon as you finish your project, ask your advising professor to write an Email to your program coordination providing the time and content of your research project ( please include your Matrikelnummer and your Email in the Email). This information will then be forwarded to the Prüfungsbüro. 

There is no need to write a report on your research project.

If you have any further questions about your Internship or Reseach Project, you can contact the Program Coordinator's Office.