The main idea of the project was to improve the organisation of virtual internships in professional higher education programs in Europe. The objectives of the project were the following: 1. To improve the implementation of virtual internships by creating Digital Internship Model - digital tool and materials that would help students, employers and higher education institutions in the EU to organise virtual internships more effectively and to achieve the highest possible learning outcomes of remote internships. 2. To improve the user experience of the Digital Internship Model by developing support materials for teachers, company managers, mentors for remote work with trainees and mutual cooperation for regular assessment and correction of student performance, at the same time allowing to develop digital competences of teachers and mentors. 3. To validate the Digital Internship Model in higher education institutions in four countries (Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, Portugal). 4. To make the Digital Internship Model available in all the EU countries with the help of dissemination activities.
Developments of technology, including high-speed Internet connections, the low cost of portable devices, as well as the global proliferation of Covid-19 have made the virtual workplace a reality. Research papers show that remote work has several advantages and its volume tends to increase in the future. These changes in the labor market call for a reorientation of higher profession education. For many students, on-site internships were disrupted starting from 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak. A College Reaction/Axios survey conducted in April 2020 found that 73% of the 822 students surveyed who had an internship it was cancelled, organized remotely or delayed. Adapting to the situation, educational institutions were in a hurry to look for alternative solutions at the time when the project application was created. Analysing situation, authors of the project concluded that there were a lack of information on how to implement student internships remotely in order to create added value for all involved. Therefore authors of the project decide to create a model which would help all stakeholders to organise study internships remotely and in a hybrid way. The problems of organising internships were experienced also by project partners.