The (condition) sine qua non for the realization of an internship abroad is finding suitable enterprises offering quality internships.

In order to better support students in finding the suitable offer Unipv undertook the following initiatives;

1. Unipv joined the LEO-Net Network. It’s a dedicated internship support network through Europe and beyond whose aim is to facilitate high quality standard work placement in Europe. https://leonet.joeplus.org/en/offers/
2. Since 2010 the University of Pavia has been offering the so called “EU Placement service”, jointly promoted by the University’s Careers Office and the Erasmus Office. “EU Placement” offers services to students and graduates throughstructured web services giving support to students for the research of the host company. http://www.unipv.eu/site/home/internazionalizzazione/stage-lavoro-allestero/erasmus-traineeship/articolo2973.html
3. A webpage for enterprises has been developed in order to describe the benefits for hosting a trainee and to invite new enterprises in doing that http://www.unipv.eu/site/en/home/international-relations/erasmus/erasmus-traineeship/erasmus-traineeship-for-enterprises.html

Unipv has been starting  hosting foreign trainees in its Departements and a webpage with upaded vacancies has been created http://www.unipv.eu/site/en/home/international-relations/erasmus/erasmus-traineeship/erasmus-traineeship-for-incoming-students.html

Contact information of the main actors involved in the initiative

• Name and surname : Elena Fontana
• Position : Erasmus officer
• Organisation : Università degli studi di Pavia
• Address : corso Strada Nuova 65
• Telephone : 0039 0382 984225
• Email : elena.fontana@unipv.it
• Website : www.unipv.eu

• Name and surname : Francesca Montagna
• Position : Erasmus officer
• Organisation : Università degli studi di Pavia
• Address : corso Strada Nuova 65
• Telephone : 0039 0382 984119
• Email : francesca.montagnanapoleone@unipv.it
• Website : www.unipv.eu

Relevance of the development of initiative in its specific context

In order to help students acquire work experience and adapt to the requirements of the EU wide labour marked, in 2007 the University of Pavia started managing transnational internships for its students mainly within the “LLp- Erasmus” mobility programme for work placement. At the start of the Erasmus work placement management Unipv had no experience in transnational placements and in giving support to students for the research of the host company. By developing the above initiatives, students mobility for placement has increased from 9 realised transnational placements in 2007/08-9 to 300 in 2014/15.

Visibility of the action

The means of communication used are the website, Facebook, e-mail.  They are effective in both reaching the students and the enterprises

Transferability

The model can be  implemented by other institutions

Sustainability

In the number of hosting enterprises has increased, the problem has now moved from finding internship placements to monitoring the quality of the internships. The University is aware that tools need to be put in place in order to ascertain the credibility of the company offering the internship. I Tools to assess the credibility of companies are therefore of paramount importance.

In this sense, it is highly beneficial to be a member of consortium: all of the partner universities use a shared online tool to manage the internships. This allows the partners to list host enterprises on a common webpage and to share feedback on them. When a University receives an offer from an enterprise this tool allows the universities to gauge a company’s reputation.

From our point of view, the following actions could be put in place in order to assess the reliability of an enterprise, avoiding risky collaborations.

1. Awarding of a sort of Erasmus placement quality label to the host enterprises offering quality internship opportunities, equivalent to the one given to universities taking part in the Erasmus programme. This should be done by the National Agency.
2. Establish a programme awarding appropriate grants for funding preparatory visits, which would encourage professors to form links with potential host companies. The programme would give professors the task of visiting international enterprises in order to monitor the progression of a student’s internship.

Innovative character

Internships vacancies has been monitored before being displayed o n the web. Also enterprises have been interviewed about their satisfaction with the trainees. This has given place to high quality traineeships which have increased the number of applicants each year. Also a list of reliable partner enterprises has been created.

Impact

Some students have been offered a permanent position at the hosting enterprise. All the students have been increasing their job prospects.

The initiative has positively influenced  the internationalization process of the University.