MORE MOBILITY FOR EUROPE
Leonardo da Vinci Partnership Project
Exploratory Research –
Interview Summaries with
SMEs
This project has been funded with support from the
European Commission.
This publication reflects the
views only of the author, and the Commission cannot
be held responsible for any use which may be made
of the information contained therein
Artemisszio Foundation
Company 1 – German-Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce - Budapest
The German-Hungarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce is a social non-profit
organisation that specialises in professional counselling and partner mediation between
Hungary and Germany in the field of providing services in professional events and lectures
on economic topics.
The organisation runs a permanent bilingual internship programme, emphasising the
importance of German as an everyday language due to daily contact with German partners.
German is a compulsory language for Hungarian students, however the Hungarian language
is not compulsory for German students. The internship programme is focussed on
commerce, economics, politics, communications and international studies and they are
open to students from other disciplines if they are deemed suitable for the working
conditions in each of the four departments. Different departments utilise different
languages relevant for role (i.e. German language for communications). The Chamber
usually takes on four to six students for a minimum of three to six months in full time work
in a strictly internship-orientated role. If openings become available the organisation
decides as to whether it would like to hire an intern as a permanent employee.
Students receive additional support and documentation from the Chamber of Industry and
commerce. This information is prepared one week prior to their arrival and is designed to
ensure that they are prepared upon arrival for their internship. The organisation also
requires weekly reports to aid in project reporting and evaluation. Therefore, the
organisation provides adequate support where necessary, whilst giving students the
opportunity organise themselves independently as often as possible.
Overall, the German-Hungarian chamber of Industry and Commerce provides its support to
those students who have taken the initiative to independently seek an internship through
the appropriate channels. Their initiative to find and apply for the departments and
demonstrate self-sufficiency based on their levels of knowledge are the key areas to their
success. More successful students are chosen based upon their ability to be intuitive and
independent when necessary to prepare themselves both practically and professionally; this
includes other aspects such as the sending of programme specific documents to GermanHungarian Chamber for validation purposes. The organisation’s selection process involves
the sending of CVs and other relevant documentation to one of the Heads of Department.
Upon interest, students are put through an online interview process, where if they are
successful, they are sent an internship contact and other relevant information.
Support is only provided as a means of preparation upon their arrival to ease them into their
new environment. Reports are created to ensure efficient monitoring and evaluation to
validate their work and internship programme. The aftercare of students is limited as
students are not always interested in working with the Chamber, as the students are obliged
to return to university at the end of their contractual agreement, therefore jobs are only
offered if openings are available.
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Company 2 – Ludwig Museum
The Ludwig museum created The International Relations Department in 2013, which worked
independently of the museum, utilising staff of which interns play a significant role in
administrative and assisting tasks.
The interviewee explains that they took on two interns, from Germany and Hungary, who
both were praised for their commitment to support the department, fulfil tasks whilst
possessing strong levels of English, simplifying communication. The unique skills of the
Hungarian girl in the field of European projects is seen to be potentially employable as her
background will help the department receive the money to fulfil the European Commission
funded project. The interns come from previous educational backgrounds where they
completed their degree studies and took hold of an opportunity to gain and develop their
professional experiences, rather than boosting solely academic competencies. These interns
are primarily chosen based upon their levels of confidence and strong motivational prowess.
The interviewee also explained that the interns are involved in the visitor programme,
where their goal is to involve leading art historians from Europe in a programme designed to
promote art to smaller European regions.
As the department has only two members, the applications are exclusively chosen by the
Head of Department. Personality shines as being one of the most significant endearing traits
based on work background and lifestyle, as it is said to improve the chemistry between
intern and employer. In addition, education still very important, as qualifications related to
the field of the internship are necessary, for both communication and specialised
knowledge. Personality is seen as the deciding factor as its uniqueness depicts how well an
intern can work with their superiors and co-workers.
Interns did not receive preparation with this internship. Interns are taught how to do the job
whilst they are working with their mentor, where they are handed tasks relevant to their
background qualifications and the tasks required by their work placement. Again, the end of
internship does not ensue in guaranteed employment as this is due to department funding
constraints.
Overall, one is able to see that regarding the selection process, the interns were chosen for
a maximum period of six months. Their selection was based on not only on their
qualifications, but primarily on personality traits, strength of interest in the field of art and
history and in their communication skills in English. Preparation for internship was more
loosely prepared with briefings being given when necessary during the internship period,
where work progression is significantly increased once intern development is observed. Any
underlying negative aspects of utilising interns is not disclosed due to the department being
in operation for a year, therefore future assessments of interns will need to be arranged to
monitor changes in how the organisation runs internships and deals with more negative
aspects of internships.
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BBQ
Company 1
Company 1 is classed as a large enterprise with an estimated workforce between 201-500
members of staff that operate on a local, national and international scale. They are familiar
with mobility projects and have prior experience in hosting trainees on mobility
programmes. In a nutshell, they are willing to take on interns with the intention of
expanding their knowledge and horizons in their field, to ensure their previous training and
experience is enhanced to bring it to a higher professional level.
The organisation believes that the interns require preparation and ensures that it initially
follows steps to ensure the interns are warmly welcomed and provided with the appropriate
information to settle them into the company. Additionally, the company fills in the Leonardo
da Vinci training plan, where goals and tasks of the trainees are clearly described. Guidance
for the trainees continue with the allocation of mentors for each individual, due to the
importance of integration into teams to assure the best possible quality of internship. The
company understands that trainees require closer mentoring during their first weeks of stay
within the company. The initial support is evenly co-handled between the company and
training organisation to provide more personalised guidance to ensure trainees are not left
to feel isolated, and remain part of the team within the organisation’s working culture,
including eating at the canteen with members of staff. Furthermore, the trainees receive
various offers to company events, both formal and non-formal activities for interns.
The company stated that it agreed to take on interns due to positive experiences with their
previous intern. Therefore, additional benefits include members of the company benefiting
from the introduction of foreign interns through development and understanding of
cultures outside the host country, broadening cultural experiences and development of
English language competences. The attraction of taking-on trainees also functions as a
promotional tool for increasing demand on workers looking for future employment and
building networks with other countries to improve international knowledge for the
organisation. Company 1 added that the primary challenge from the organisation is related
to language barriers; difficulties may arise when an intern is unable to speak German,
especially when it involves non-familiar dialects. In order to minimise the impact of present
language barriers, consideration is operated to use clear and proper German, including
integrating them into all activities to improve confidence, social and linguistic skills.
For the duration of the internship and right up to the end of the mobility programme, the
organisation remains in close contact with the hosting organisation, ensuring that the
company receives sufficient information about the candidate to reduce the risk of
complications during the internship process. Support for interns remain strong as both the
receiving and host organisation monitor and evaluate the progress of the mobility project.
Success leads to future hosting of trainees, though levels of interns staying at the company
results in a 5%-10% margin.
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Company 2
Company 2 is small to medium enterprise with a workforce between 1-20 people. Their
operations predominantly are focussed towards local and regional areas, whilst working
nationally under unique conditions. The company is recently accustomed to receiving
international interns from European countries with initial positive outcomes.
Regarding the integration of interns, Company 2 makes use of its smaller size to provide
direct involvement with the integration of trainees. They do not have or provide any type of
welcome package or preparation materials prior to their arrival for when they start.
Moreover, they do not provide a specific working plan and mentors for the trainees. Thus,
the mentoring is provided directly by the working staff of the company, rather than through
a specific mentor. On the other hand the company interviewee indicates that the
organisation should provide technical language skill training to improve the quality of the
mobility programme. Interns are involved in all internal events, giving them the opportunity
to develop their skills and build up stronger integration into the company culture.
Company 2 explained that they were willing to take trainees as a means of benefitting both
the intern and the organisation as a whole. Emphasis on cultural and social enrichment are
seen to be important for business and social development and act as enticements to
develop the workplace for the company. Regarding challenges, the small size of the
company can affect the quantity and quality of work that the trainee undertakes. For
example, the small nature of the company means that wealth of variation found in larger
companies is not present, thus the variation in work tasks may not appear to be constantly
interesting for the intern.
Company 2 has and maintains good and continuous contact with the hosting company,
where they work together to work on the evaluation and finalisation of the project.
Evaluation of the internship is managed by the hosting partner and is willing to take on
more interns in the future regarding the time is convenient to allow them to undertake
tasks for the enterprise. Finally, the company explains that it did not have the opportunity
to stay in the company after the mobility programme as their project does not require them
to become employed at the end of the project.
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Bulgaria Gateway
Happy Tour
The company Happy Tour is a small to medium size enterprise with a staff size between 1-20
persons and operate on an international level. The company is familiar with mobility
projects and contains a strong background knowledge of how they are run and managed.
They have experience in hosting trainees who are undertaking mobility programmes. The
enterprise believes that they are very useful for the internal development of finding and
implementing new approaches and working methods. Additionally, they temporarily
increase the workforce to complete a greater volume of business tasks. The company also
believes that the mobility programmes are a great opportunity for young people to enhance
their skills and knowledge. This can be seen as a significant positive as cultural exchange of
interns and both benefit the hosting business culture whilst sharing working methods which
can be taken back to the intern’s country of origin.
Interns/trainees coming to the organisation do not receive any support and preparation
packages from the company, as they expect these aspects to be covered by the
intermediary organisation. On the other hand, when the interns arrive at the company, they
are presented to by the company and are briefed about the rules and regulations of the
organisation, to ease them into the company. The company does not provide a programme
specific working plan for the trainees. This is because the trainees are set different tasks
based upon their skill-set and CV qualifications, to ensure that working plans are individually
created to yield the best results from the interns and for the business. The trainees are
assigned mentors to ensure support and guidance is given where necessary and to make
sure tasks are completed. Support may involve work orientated guidance or support getting
accustomed to their new surroundings. Happy Tours only involve interns in events where
the company requires support, otherwise the organised events are solely arranged for
private clients.
The company states that the interns are beneficial to take on, as they are required to
undertake additional tasks to improve the quality and speed of work productivity. Additional
benefits of utilising trainees from different workplaces abroad gives the company a worker
who contains a different mind-set, crucial for developing new ideas with good practical use.
The language barrier is seen as the biggest challenge, due to language restrictions, different
dialogue or low initial self-confidence. In order to tackle this issue the company undertakes
measures to make the intern feel comfortable and calm within their new environment.
Furthermore, tasks are initially assigned to the intern that correspond to their linguistic
competences that are easy to complete, to boost their confidence and quality of work. If the
opportunity arises, the company will give the intern tasks that allow them to use their native
language.
The company has a very good relationship with the intermediary organisation where
internship monitoring is undertaken to ensure the work placement is running smoothly. In
addition the company allows the intermediary organisation to evaluate the internship
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project. Finally, the company states that they have a 0% of interns returning to work after
their mobility programme.
In conclusion, whilst the company handles the internship individually for the trainees, the
intermediary organisation handles the main project monitoring and evaluation to ensure
that the interns are properly monitored and evaluated.
Mail.bg
Mail.bg is a small to medium enterprise with a workforce falling into the category of 1-20
members or staff which operates on an international scale. The company is familiar with
mobility projects and have previous experience in hosting trainees in mobility programmes.
They predominantly utilise mobility programmes as a method for improving international
prospects for their organisation, including gathering information from interns about foreign
markets and their differences in perspectives.
The company does not provide welcome packages to prepare the interns for their work
placement. Instead, they give the new interns more attention to get them settled within
their work environment. The early hands-on approach to getting the interns settled within
their new role allows for more effective independent output of work once they are settled.
The company’s responsibility for duty of care is solely work orientated whilst the
intermediary organisation takes control of the additional support that the interns require.
Overall, the intern’s integration into the company is focused on encouraging independence
within the workplace, to take advantage of their international qualities.
As previously mentioned, the interns are able to undertake some of the more simple
activities that they can be trained to do, as a starting point for future tasks. Additionally, the
company is able to benefit from the foreign expertise of the interns through foreign
knowledge and differences in cultural backgrounds are beneficial factors for product and
service development. On the other hand, language barriers are an issue that needs to be
addressed accordingly, including the need for additional education in Bulgarian industry and
current affairs.
Regarding the end of the internship, the overall process is seen to be positive. The
relationship between the hosting and sending organisation is positive and the hosting
organisation would host again, as the benefits of new interns broadens the knowledge pool
for the company. On the other hand, the percentage of interns that remain with the
organisation after the mobility programme remains at 0%.
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Élan Interculturel
‘Questions to the Mobility Counsellor’ Marcello Decaro – Sciences Po Lyon
The role of the mobility counsellor for the Institute of Political Sciences of Lyon (Sciences Po
Lyon) takes care of both the academic and personal welfare of their students who are
partaking in mobility programmes in South America. The programmes the students follow
the Erasmus charter with modified criteria in accordance with the local institution and
Science Po Lyon.
The mobility counsellor explained that the students are chosen for mobility programmes
through the quality of their grades, the filling in of the application form and their own
independent search for accommodation. Therefore, near-total independence for
administrative duties and intuition of the mobility students is necessary to ensure a
successful application for mobility programmes at Science Po Lyon.
The role of the mobility counsellor in this context is able to provide support with aspects of
the preparation phase of the school’s programmes and assess the language capabilities of
the students for their hosting country of origin. In addition, the mobility counsellor is able to
provide support with obtaining a visa, insurance and accommodation if necessary and
additional support for foreign students. Language classes are also offered to increase
student integration into the school. Selection appears to be ultimately based on
achievement through recorded qualifications that demonstrate that students do not require
persistent support to successfully apply for international mobility placements. It shows that
the role of the Mobility Counsellor is more academic and linguistically centric, with a lesser
commitment to programme preparation and administrative support.
The school Mobility Counsellors do not monitor the students when they are abroad, except
in exceptional circumstances where serious concern is present that could endanger the
livelihood of the student. Concerning foreign students, emails are sent regularly to ensure
students are attending classes and exams. They also receive a mentor to further improve
their integration into the school.
Regarding programme evaluation, the grades obtained by students is used to provide a
verdict as to whether their mobility experience is being successful. The grades are collected
and used to demonstrate whether the students have been able to comprehend, to clarify
which areas that they are most successful in during their time on mobility. Foreign students’
grades are also important to give a stronger indication as to how well they are achieving at
Science Po Lyon. The grades of the foreign students are taken into account with their French
language competences.
In general, the key indicators to how the counsellors monitor and evaluate the courses
demonstrate that the support and guidance they bring on a personal level is only in
conjunction with serious cases where it is required to act in the best interests of the student
to reduce any form of danger towards students. It also appears that the monitoring and
evaluation stages only take into account quantitative academic achievement and partially
neglects external factors that lead to why some students are more successful than others in
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certain topic areas and countries. On the other hand, the utilisation of email messaging is
used frequently to ensure students that are struggling on their mobility placements do have
back-up support when and where is necessary. Back-up support is necessary as students are
only eligible to partake in one mobility programme, only.
Administrative difficulties and issues with integration are present, depending on each
individual student’s country of mobility. Legal requirements such as visas and insurance are
typical challenges that must be taken into account to ensure students are not deported
from their hosting country for the mobility programme.
According to the interviewee, the core skills of a mobility counsellor lay in their promptness
in reacting to important instances where they are required to support students or the
institution. They must be good listeners and negotiators to ensure that they maintain the
smooth running of mobility programmes.
To conclude, the role of a mobility counsellor in general is designed to be a multipurpose
professional who is empathetic, collective and capable of acting in a personalised and
professional manner to ensure the smooth running of the mobility projects for inbound and
outbound students.
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EuroPartnership Agency
Company 1
Company 1 is familiar with mobility projects and has previous experience with hosting
trainees in mobility programmes through communication with a UK intermediary
organisation. The mobility programme is seen as a great opportunity for the company to
learn more about the working methods and strategies of workers from outside their country
of origins. The attraction of being able to promote one’s company through the implantation
of interns from overseas is an attractive prospect that can be seen to promote the status of
the organisation. In addition it provides students with the opportunity to leave their country
of origin to pick up and practise new methods and tasks to improve upon their core skills
and improve their linguistic skills and cultural immersion.
In general, the enterprise should prepare the trainees for when they start their internship,
to ensure that they are settled in their new place of work, and are comfortable and
prepared to work. The welcome packs are prepared by the intermediary company, where
they are created to get the trainees settled and familiar within their new environment. The
trainees are assigned to a representative who is the point of call for the trainee, where they
are able to contact them for support and provide them with guidance and support with
integration, where necessary. The trainee gets the opportunity to work alongside the
workforce, but has to report to their representative. Trainees generally require simpler tasks
when they start working, to monitor their skill-set and to encourage them to use their
communicative skills to develop the roles and responsibilities that they are able to carry out.
Trainees are involved in events that are relevant to their role, depending on their
representative.
The benefits of having international trainees is that they are able to share their expertise
with the company to improve and develop new methods and techniques to improve
business development. The internship gives trainees the opportunity to improve their
language skills and gain experience within the company.
The company is in close cooperation with the intermediary organisation for the duration of
the mobility programme. Monitoring and evaluation is coordinated between the hosting
and intermediary organisation. The company is happy to take on future trainees as their
input is beneficial for the promotion of the organisation. Due to the nature of the mobility
programmes, students return to their country of origin to finish their study placement.
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