Workplacement

A project under development

The broad objectives of the placement project is to improve quality of education and to increase cooperation between NordPlus network higher education institutions and enterprises. NordPlus network institutions have been doing academic exchange for more than 20 years, however student placements have not been in the scope of network activities.

University business collaboration in terms of placements is present only in some of the network institutions, therefore it is important to share the existing experiences among partners and try to develop a framework for international placements. In this placement project multilateral higher education cooperation will especially focus on transfer and exchanges of innovative practices in higher education- business cooperation broadening the boundaries of traditional business and management education curriculum, contributing with new approaches to internationalization of programs and to increasing students employability.

Placements are very important for future careers of the students in terms of intercultural experience, development of global mindset, and professional competences such as market specific issues, gaining career readiness skills including the "soft skills", which employers look for in entry-level employees.

Placements are needed to support study programs in terms of current business needs and knowledge transfer. Globalization fosters business changes worldwide; therefore universities/academic institutions must be proactive in terms of study programs content developments, representing current and future needs of business.

Organisation and implementation

Different program designs provide a challenge for the NordPlus network partners as well as opportunity for searching complementary and merging similarities during the mutual development of the international placement design. In order to ensure international placement quality in each of network institutions, every partner shall review existing and develop new structures and processes to support proper functioning of international placements process. This is necessary to do as during the first meeting deans and representatives of the network institutions shared experiences how cooperation between business and university is organized and identified following challenges:

• Not all institutions have a placement as a part of their study program.
• In the some of the programs placements are mandatory and in some they are not.
• The number of ECTS ranges from 5 to 30 (depending on the national requirements).
• The timing of placements differs from the first to the final year of studies.
• Placements' requirements and outcomes differ
• Support provided to the student by their university and the company varies among institutions
• Different incentive systems in different countries/universities.

For workplacement opportunities, please contact the coordinator at your home institution.