DM Students works both to make it easier for you to get an internship and for better conditions once you land one.
There are five specific improvements that DM Students has chosen to concentrate their internship-related efforts on:
1. Internships worth 15 or 30 ECTS credits should be available for all university-level courses of study
The opportunity for an internship should be available to all students, regardless of their course of study. This opportunity should be built into curricula, such that all students who wish to refine and target their professional profile have the chance to do so. All students should have the opportunity to choose internships worth either 15 or 30 ECTS credits. Requirements in internship contracts and work requirements should be aligned with the credit value.
2. Internships should be optional for all students
Internships should always be optional, so students are never forced to decide against theoretical knowledge in favour of obligatory practice, depending on each student's attitude to internships as a positive element of a professional profile, or as a less attractive offering.
3. There should be no cost to interns to take on internships
Taking on an internship should be possible for everyone, so there should be no extra costs in the form of transportation expenses and the like.
4. A central set of rules should apply to internships
A central set of rules should be created to guarantee good working conditions for students during internships. Additionally, educational institutions should be required to work effectively to make internship offerings attractive.
5. Interns and those offering internships should enter into internship contracts
Before the start of an internship, the intern and the company offering the internship should draw up an internship contract together, and the intern's educational institution should also approve it. Proper preparations for the internship lead to better experiences for all parties. It is especially important that fixed working hours be set, so that students are able to manage student jobs and other educational obligations.
DM Students' definition of an internship
An internship confers merit relative to the intern's education
An internship should be worth credits, so the internship period — potentially combined with an oral or written evaluation of the internship — can take the place of one or more exams. The credits earned should correspond to the amount of time spent at the location of the internship.
The intern is entitled to receive educational grants for the duration of an internship
Since the internship period will replace a greater or lesser period of study, students can receive educational grants during their internships.
Coaching is part of the internship
There should be a significant instructional component to an internship, such that interns have opportunities to develop their skills in their working areas without running the risk of becoming a source of cheap labour for the place offering the internship.
Assigned work is meaningful relative to the intern's field
The work assigned to interns should be related to their specific course of study, thereby ensuring them the opportunity to experiment with theoretical problems in practice.
