The student internship and the drafting and defense of the end-of-course dissertation cover a period of four (4) months.

The purpose of the internship is to broaden the students’ professional horizons and their contact network.

The auditor’s home organization is responsible for finding the internship position.

To allow students to gain new knowledge and receive exposure to a different professional environment, the internship must take place outside their home organization, in no more than two (2) host organizations.

The internship may take place in the trainee’s country of origin or in any of the Member States of the West African Monetary Union (WAMU).

The internship is overseen by an internship supervisor, who is responsible for coordinating its conduct.

The internship is evaluated by the host organization. The evaluation form is to be sent to COFEB through the BCEAO National Directorate where the internship was conducted in a WAMU member country.

Evaluations must be submitted immediately upon completion of each internship and no later than fifteen (15) days thereafter.

Two (2) videoconference evaluation sessions are also planned with the students and their supervisors, under the supervision of the Head of the Department, accompanied by a senior professor associated with COFEB.

The purpose of the dissertation is to introduce students to research work through the study of a topic of interest for their professional activities.

The dissertation must be submitted no later than two (2) weeks following the completion of the internship.

The home organization is asked to choose the topic of the dissertation in consultation with the student and notify the Center of the topic selected before the end of April, to enable the student to prepare the research topic and plan during their studies at COFEB.

During their studies at COFEB, students work under the supervision of a dissertation supervisor appointed by their home organization, in keeping with the topic chosen.

If the dissertation supervisor is not a university professor, he or she must be a resource person with solid experience and strong knowledge of the subject the student wishes to address.

The dissertation is defended before a jury composed of the National Director and the Director of COFEB or their representatives, a senior professor, a representative of the home organization, the dissertation supervisor, the internship supervisor and the COFEB correspondent.

The latter two (2) are not voting members. The internship and the preparation and defense of a dissertation entitle students to 8 credits which will be added to the 52 credits earned through the on-site courses, making up a total of 60 credits and thereby validating the students' Master’s degree.

To maximize the professional focus of the training, the following teaching methods are used, emphasizing project-based work and modern group facilitation techniques:

• teaching is based on documentation handed out to the students, audio-visual illustrations, as well as practical exercises and group work ;
• practical exercises are based on data and statistics available at the Central Bank, and in economic and financial administrations and credit institutions; and ;
• case studies will be involved in most of the subjects.
  They will take the form of a fact sheet based on a real situation, presenting the main points of a concrete problem, backed up by statistics, cross opinions, survey reports, etc.
  The fact sheet is studied individually by the students, then prepared in a sub-group and discussed in a plenary session led by the facilitators.

The courses will be supplemented by topical conferences by specialists of recognized standing in the fields covered in the curriculum.