(820) VIRTUAL INTERNSHIPS PROVIDED IN COLLABORATION AMONG COMPANIES AND UNIVERSITIES - THE FUTURE OF PRACTICAL DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS

摘要

A successful transition from university to labor market is one of the biggest concerns of the students inEurope, as they face increasing difficulties in finding employment. Internships help young people tomake first steps in their career in a challenging economic environment. According to the research ofinternships.com, 36% more companies offered internships in 2012 than in 2011 and 53% companiesplan to have more interns in 2013 than in 2012.Moreover, usage of e-technologies for work and number of jobs from distance are increasing everyyear mainly because of their flexibility and low costs. They lead to the expansion of the virtualinternships (VIs). The aforementioned research shows that 33% of employers in the USA organise VIsand 71% of students would consider a VIs. Unfortunately, VIs are almost unknown in Europe andthere are very few examples of using e-technologies to strengthen cooperation among universities,companies and students.Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) is a constantly growing non-profit and non-politicalorganisation that strives to develop students. It involves 96 technical universities reaching 1 300 000students throughout its activities. One of the focus areas is Educational Involvement through whichBEST strives to bring the development of European Engineering Education (EEE) closer to thestudents as well as to bring their opinion into the spotlight in order to meet theirs, academics' andindustry's needs.In order to provide student's input on the topic of VIs, BEST organised a student symposium incooperation with PROVIP (Promoting Virtual mobility in Placements) and the local university. PROVIPis a thematic network which aim is to build and promote a platform for structural cooperation betweenuniversities and enterprises to organize VIs across Europe. During this symposium 16 Europeanstudents discussed current internship system, advantages and disadvantages of VIs and idea of aperfect VIs' model and platform.The research resulted in a set of recommendations and students' preferences towards theimplementation of the VIs in Europe. Outcomes say that VIs should last from 6 to 12 months withworkload and deadlines which will suit students' obligations. Interns should have an opportunity tochoose a task which will preferably be part of bigger project, so that the intern gets a chance tocontribute to the company's development. Additionally, structure of tasks description was defined.Participants suggested regular reports for successful communication among the stakeholders andgave feedback to a VI platform's design and content. Moreover, they defined roles and requirementsfor each stakeholder.University should be involved throughout the whole process of the internship with main tasks topromote VIs to students, follow-up on milestones and ensure success of the project. The promotion ofthe platform should be done by all stakeholders using modern and traditional media, but also bypersonal contacts.In the time of globalisation and economic crisis companies are trying to establish an internationalenvironment and lower costs by using technological innovations. Students are looking for moreinternship opportunities in order to enrich their experience and CVs. Consequently, VI impose as thefuture of practical development of students. This research resulted with proposal for the “perfect” VImodel and platform for Europe considering all the differences in approaches in EEE.