Every year, 100,000s of students, from a wide field of studies, take part in the programme. These internships can last anywhere between 2 to 12 months and are supported by a grant supplied by the European Commission. The programme enables Irish students to work abroad in return for allowing other students to be placed in Ireland.
Why take on an Erasmus+ Intern?
An Erasmus+ intern offers a number of advantages over a traditional work placement. Just over two in five European small and medium-sized companies are active in some form of international activity; about a quarter are involved in direct export. Good language management is therefore increasingly necessary to prevent linguistic and cultural barriers from occurring in new and expanding markets. Erasmus+ internships allow companies’ access to interns who are natively fluent in a wide variety of languages, in addition to whatever other assortment of skills and qualifications they possess.
Interns also bring with them an in-depth local knowledge of their home markets. What better way to figure out how to sell to a foreign country than to take on someone from there? Export intensive businesses, for example, can use the opportunity offered by a foreign intern to test an export plan without breaking the bank, potentially developing some prospects and making some initial contacts. Similar opportunities are available to those organisations which work in, or are seeking to expand into, foreign markets.
International interns also bring with them an international approach to work. A new intern can bring new ideas and methods with them. This is especially true in the case of Erasmus+ interns who have the benefit of being educated in a totally different country. Ideas from Germany or Sweden obtained from an trainee can go a long way towards improving a business’s best practise.