IN4SOC Internships

Internships are meaningful means for the professional and personal growth of university students, as they enable real experiential learning. These collaborations are increasingly part of the higher education programmes across Europe, though the approach and variety can be certainly enhanced, as the available internships are not always fully aligned with the professional skills students will need in the current and future industrial markets and the needed consideration of social and environmental issues.

Social engagement for can play a relevant role in the learning processes, being the development of the social and civic values identified as one of the key competences for lifelong learning in the EU. Social responsibility goes even beyond social engagement, typically involving the operation in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

Cooperation between academia and organizations can highly reinforce the social responsibility approach of organizations, e.g. through tailored service learning experiences framed by effectively designed internships. IN4SOC aims to impact the way internships are designed across the EU in Technical Universities, by incorporating social responsibility in line with the sustainable development goals.

SOC internships aim for a greater involvement of higher education institutions in regional engagement while promoting at the same time fostering the European citizenship and engagement, considering the available Erasmus+ Mobility for Traineeships scholarships.

The IN4SOC partnership is thus set to operate transnationally so that students can apply for internships in their region or abroad, which is intended to enhance their view on SOC responsibility, and a higher understanding of the cultural and social diversity, in line with the needs of the labour market and beyond the boundaries of a specific University or country. Therefore, students will be able to find SOC internships at national or EU level, but in all cases support the competitiveness of enterprises at regional and local level whenever possible.