The aim of the project is to increase the quality and benefits of internships by creating closer cooperation between companies and universities in the implementation of internships. The reason of the project proposal is ensuring the quality and relevance of traineeships by developing of closer cooperation companies and universities when Erasmus traineeships are realized. The project proposal aims at enhancing cooperation between universities and companies through innovative benefits in which students will have the chance to develop their skills and competences for their future careers. Partner organizations will work with companies and students to develop methods together with companies and other relevant entities. Traineeships can become more attractive for university students if a clear assessment of their traineeships is used and the results are recognized as a regular part of study. Also if their assessment evaluates their abilities and skills so that they can use it in their future application for job and they have already practical experience and are trained and prepared for employment. The objective of this project is to set up a system for assessment of quality of traineeships. In order to make the assessment even more reliable and useful for companies and for students, we are planning to submit an Erasmus KA2 project AQET that aims to analyze according to which criteria the outcomes of the traineeships are most useful for companies (future employers) and for students (future employees). The project proposal will enhance the quality and relevance of traineeships by developing of assessment and recognition of Erasmus Traineeships for participating institutions and to disseminate it to the other universities, too. We believe that the EU needs to put more responsibility on companies who hire interns through the Erasmus+ program. The companies are benefiting from Erasmus+ as they are able to have highly educated interns subsidized by EU funding. Increasing the companies’ obligations on reporting or evaluation will inadvertently increase the dialogue between the companies and the universities. This enhanced communication could also assist the European Commission in achieving its goal of having industry, research and education all working together. Dissemination activities will be divided to several directions. Very important is dissemination within each partner institution (internal dissemination). It is important to disseminate information inside the university and inform all faculties and departments, that this kind of project is realized. There will be information sent to all teaching and administrative staff responsible for traineeships. The dissemination activities within own institution since the beginning is very important for the project results and final success. There will be also dissemination activities oriented out of institutions (external dissemination). The first external dissemination information will be presented on web which will be used for project progress presentation and will be opened the whole public. This “ex ante” dissemination activities will promote the project and its goals.
The aim of the project is to design and create a document for higher quality evaluation of traineeships in the Erasmus+ program and thus improve the quality of documents issued to traineeship participants after their completion, which will have an impact on the administrative process of evaluation and recognition of student traineeships. For university graduates who complete an internship after graduation, the evaluation of their traineeship is very important for the job search, and only a high-quality evaluation will be respected by future employers. The European Commission emphasized that "a specific traineeship that is not part of the student's study plan is recognized by the sending institution at least by indicating the traineeship period in the Diploma Supplement, or in the case of graduate internships, by providing an traineeship certificate". However, there are no universally accepted rules for evaluating traineeships, respectively trainees based on a quality questionnaire. This is the reason why some European universities require special evaluations from companies and also from the students themselves, as the documents required by the EU Commission do not have sufficient explanatory value. General Objectives • implementation of the recommendations contained in the "European Quality Charter for Mobility" in the field of higher education; • support at European level the creation of mechanisms to support the exchange of best practices and the involvement of the main criteria that define the quality of traineeships, as set out in the European Quality Charter for Traineeships. Specific Objectives • propose a set of recommendations to contribute to the quality of mobility assessment procedures and to improve the recognition of internships within the curriculum and qualifications of students and especially graduates; • enable a better common understanding of the specific aspects of Erasmus internships
The AQET project (Assessment of Quality of Erasmus Traineeship) aims to evaluate the activities of trainees by institutions/companies/firms involved in the Erasmus programme, so that these evaluations are useful for the sending institutions and especially for the trainees themselves. The project was implemented as a three-year Erasmus+ project (activity KA2). The main output is the design of a form for the evaluation of trainees by institutions, which would allow evaluation not only from the professional, but also from the social side of the trainee and would also be usable for their professional portfolio as well. The Erasmus traineeships started in 2007. From a slightly hesitant start in 2007, interest in traineeships gradually increased, mainly due to growing support from universities and the promotion of the programme in institutions and companies. The traineeship program has been updated in various ways, and currently the opportunity to participate in internships is open to all students of universities involved in the Erasmus program, regardless of their citizenship, as well as to university graduates within 12 months of completing their studies. The traineeship spent abroad helps students better cope with the demands of the labour market and gain new knowledge and experience. This form of cooperation also increases the possibilities of cooperation between educational institutions and companies. The increasing importance of Erasmus traineeships stresses the need for quality and relevance for the assessment. While for the Erasmus mobility study programme the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) is settled, there is a lack of guidelines and precise rules for the assessment of traineeships. The evaluation forms of the Erasmus program are very general for traineenships and give the opportunity to evaluate the activity of trainees in a very general way. Such Evaluations do meets the criteria of the Erasmus programme, but they are of little or less importance, since the participants of the internships cannot use them sufficiently, for example, when submitting job applications and documenting previous experiences. This project follows on from the previous ATEST project, which was focused on the issue of recognizing traineeships as part of studies and assigning credits (ECTS) for participation in an internship. As part of the research carried out by the ATEST project, companies pointed out that there are no precise rules for the involvement of trainees in the company's activities and, above all, there are no precise rules for evaluation. In addition, in 2014, the Erasmus program was extended to include university graduates, and the evaluations are not of sufficient quality to be used, they are used to document experience when applying for a job.