Computing Internships

These internship placements provide the opportunity to experience the professional workplace and apply knowledge and skills learnt in courses to solve real world challenges.

Learning outcomes for the course include:

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with others in a team
• Demonstrated capacity to work independently with minimal supervision
• Professional conduct at work including in presentation and communication
• Positive attitude towards learning new things and tackling challenges
• Ability to derive project requirements from understanding of user needs including use of creative approaches.

Undertaking an internship also provides insights into industry, and valuable professional work experience and networks, that will benefit your future career.

What does the internship involve?

The Computing Internships are undertaken over one semester (for 12 units of academic credit).

Participation in the internship involves 20hrs per week, consisting of:

• 15 hours per week undertaking a project within a host organisation

• 5 hours per week of:

  • Weekly tutorials
  • 1-on-1 and group mentoring to assist students to adapt to business environments and successfully complete their projects

Types of host organisations and projects

Host organisations represent Federal and ACT Government, private sector, SMEs and the not-for profit sector.

Internship projects provide the opportunity to apply academic knowledge and skills to real-world challenges. Projects are sourced for a variety of areas including software development, data science and analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Activities may include developing a proof of concept, new features for existing software products, data visualisation and automation of current manual process.

In Semester 1, 2026, COMP4820/COMP8830 will be available only to students in their final semester of the programs listed below, who intend to graduate at the end of Semester 1, 2026, and can participate with a “Bring Your Own (BYO) Project” for the internship:

• Bachelor of Advanced Computing (Honours)
• Master of Computing
• Master of Machine Learning and Computer Vision

To participate in the BYO (Bring Your Own) Project, you must be a current employee of your nominated Host Organisation in Australia. You also need to meet the enrolment eligibility criteria for COMP4820/COMP8830, as outlined in the process below.

Eligibility for Computing Internships will be assessed based on a student’s current program at the time of application. Students must enroll in one of the eligible programs while students are applying for the Computing Internship and must remain enrolled in one of the eligible programs when undertaking the Computing Internship if they secure a placement.

Eligibility will also be reassessed prior to enrolment in the Computing Internship. Therefore, students must be enrolled in one of the eligible programs and meet all conditions, including the successful completion of any prerequisite courses, if applicable.

Undergraduate eligibility criteria

To be considered for an internship position, you will need to check you have met the requisites. Please see Advanced Computing Internship - COMP4820:

• you will need to be studying a Bachelor of Advanced Computing (4716)
• you will need to have successfully completed COMP2100 and COMP2120 and 12 units of 3000 COMP courses
• you are not able to enrol in this course if you have previously completed COMP4500, COMP4550, COMP4560 and COMP4810.
• you will need to have space in your program to accommodate a 12-unit Internship (i.e. COMP or University Elective Space) without overloading, in a single semester (not across two semesters)

If you have completed or are planning to undertake COMP3500 (TechLauncher), please seek program advice from your Program Convener before applying to undertake the Computing Internship.

Postgraduate eligibility criteria

To be eligible to be considered for the Computing internship COMP8830 you need:

• to be enrolled in the Master of Computing AND have successfully completed COMP6442 (Software Construction) and COMP8260 (Professional Practice 2), or
• to be enrolled in the Master of Machine Learning and Computer Vision* AND have successfully completed COMP6710 (Structured Programming) or COMP6730 (Programming for Scientists) AND COMP6250/ENGN6250 (Professional Practice 1) or COMP8260/ENGN8260 (Professional Practice 2)
• no plans to complete COMP8715 - i.e. NOT completed, NOT be enrolled in and/or NOT planning to complete COMP8715 (Computing Project) or COMP8755 (Individual Computing Project)
• space in your program to accommodate a 12-unit internship (i.e. COMP or University Elective Space) without overloading, in a single semester (not across two semesters)

If you are intending to bring your own project (BYO) to the Computing Internship program, please note it needs to be a paid internship in Australia.

Please note the following steps:

1. Students intending to utilise BYO projects must submit the Computing Internship BYO Project Registration by the deadline, including details of their Host Organisation.
   • Student must be a current employee of the nominated Host Organisation.
   • The nominated Host Organisation must be the one to submit the BYO Project Proposal specifically for the BYO student.
2. CSS Student Employability team will assess the eligibility of Student BYO Project Registration. Eligible students will be advised to instruct their Host Organisation to submit a BYO Project Proposal.
3. The Host Organisation must submit the project proposal by the specified deadlines, refer to the ‘Propose an Internship Project’ information on the Internship Program - ANU School of Computing.
4. The Host Organisation will be contacted to arrange a meeting with the School of Computing Engagement and Impact team and the Engaged Education Convenor.
   • The BYO project will be reviewed and assessed by the Engaged Education Convenor.
5. If the project is approved, the School of Computing Engagement and Impact team will notify your Host Organisation. The Host Organisation will then be required to sign the ANU Employer Work Integrated Letter.
6. Once the ANU Employer Work Integrated Letter is finalised between ANU and your Host Organisation, the CSS Student Employability team will contact you with the next steps to complete and finalise your Computing Internship BYO Project.