Universities of Applied Sciences are known for providing their students with a particularly practical education. For example, all Bachelor's students - currently almost 40,000 people - must complete at least one work placement in their field of study. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often shy away from employing students as interns. The effort involved is too great and the internships are too short anyway, which means they are not worthwhile for the companies.

Bringing companies and interns together.
The EU project "learntowork.eu" (https://learntowork.eu/) now wants to do away with these and similar prejudices and bring SMEs and students from universities of applied sciences closer together. The Austrian University of Applied Sciences Conference (FHK), which represents the interests of all Austrian universities of applied sciences, is involved in the project alongside other European university organisations.
This is because it has been shown that hiring interns does indeed represent added value for the company.

FH interns - the employees of tomorrow
Surveys among SMEs show that there are definitely benefits to be gained from employing interns: The interns bring their knowledge from their studies, which is at the cutting edge of science and technology, into the company. The brand or the company's own products are often opened up to a wider circle.
Interns are also inclined to remain in an employment relationship with the company after completing their internship. Many companies use this to look for future employees and test their suitability over a longer period of time directly in practice.

Internships - easier than expected
The assumption that employing interns would involve a high level of bureaucracy can also be refuted. Creating the necessary framework conditions for employing interns is very simple. As part of the project, brochures were produced for both SMEs and universities.

How does a company find suitable interns?
If you are interested in employing interns in your company, please contact a university of applied sciences. Further information and contact persons can be found on the project homepage https://learntowork.eu/oder and can be obtained directly from the FHK General Secretariat (office@fhk-alt.local).

 

Enquiry note:
Kurt Koleznik
Tel: 0664/4244294
kurt.koleznik@fhk-alt.local
Austrian University of Applied Sciences Conference
Bösendorferstrasse 4/11
1010 Vienna