Enterprise-University Virtual Placements

The Enterprise-University Virtual Placements (EU-VIP) project was selected in 2009, and funded from 1 October 2009 until 30 September 2011 by the European Commission, under the Lifelong Learning Programme - Erasmus - Multilateral projects - Co-operation between Universities and Enterprise.

The EU-VIP web site is at http://euvip.eu

Summary

International work placements or internships, as they are generally known, are gaining more and more importance in the context of internationalization of higher education and globalization of our (professional) world. Traditional international work placements, where the learner travels to the company abroad, are not always feasible for all students because of financial, geographical, social or other reasons. For those physical placements abroad that do happen, there are also a number of difficulties to overcome, mainly related to a lack of communication between the student, the foreign company and the institution for higher education.

Virtual mobility, or ICT-supported interaction to realize international collaboration, offers possibilities to address these issues. The EU-VIP project looked at how virtual mobility can support or even enable international work placements and addressed the three stakeholders that are involved in an international work placement: the higher education institution, the student and the receiving company or organization. To this end 19 pilot projects were executed.

Outcomes

- Manual ‘Make it work. Integrating Virtual Mobility in International Internships’

This manual is the main result of the EU-VIP project. The publication provides a framework for and a description of the conditions of success for integrating virtual mobility in international internships. Next to this it defines the context and definitions used in the EU-VIP project and it presents the conclusions regarding the perspectives from the different stakeholders: students, higher education institutions and companies.

- Quick guide in English, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian and Polish

The quick guide is a summary of the main findings presented in the elaborate manual. Interested in the topic but no time to read the full document? Than this guide might be just what you need.

- Video training material, explaining the context and definition of the project, stakeholder perspectives, guidelines to integrate virtual mobility in international placements and presenting the 19 pilot projects.

Partners

• Katholieke Universiteit Leuven - Belgium- Co-ordinated by Mariet Vriens
• EuroPACE ivzw - Belgium
• Coimbra Group ASBL - Belgium
• Katholieke Hogeschool Leuven - Belgium
• Board of European Students of Technology (BEST) - France
• Helsinki University of Technology, TKK Dipoli - Finland
• Laurea University of Applied Sciences - Finland
• Erhversakademiet Lillebaelt - Denmark
• EFMD - Belgium
• European Association of Distance Teaching Universities - the Netherlands
• FernUniversität in Hagen - Germany
• Zachodniopomorska Szkoła Biznesu - Poland
• Turun yliopisto - Finland
• Alma Mater Studiorum – Universita’ di Bologna - Italy
• Università degli Studi di Padova - Italy
• Rijksuniversiteit Groningen - the Netherlands

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