If you don’t know what a training internship agreement is, how it works and how it benefits university students, we invite you to continue reading this article.
As you will see, it is not the internship contract that you have surely heard about. This is another different training action in which you don’t need to have finished your degree to do it. In addition, these academic actions have a large number of advantages that we explain below.
A training internship agreement, ¿what is this?
You shouldn’t mistake the training internship agreement for an internship contract. A training internship agreement is a training action: an agreement signed between the student, the university and the company so that the knowledge acquired can be applied and the student can begin to gain experience in the subject studied.
On the other hand, aninternship contract, the so-called Contract for Obtaining Professional Practice from March 2022, establishes an employment relationship itself. Although this contractual relationship is between companies and students, at UIE we provide all the necessary support and ensure the optimal development of the first work experience of our graduates.
In a training internship agreement, the student has apprentice status and is still in the training period (has not yet graduated). This is an academic practice supervised by the university itself and is formative in nature. The goal is to complement the knowledge acquired and strengthen skills.
Academic internships are regulated by Royal Decree 592/2014, of 11 July. This regulation indicates the need for universities to reach agreements with collaborative entities (article 7). Its formal name is Educational Cooperation Agreement.
Thus, it is an agreement to improve educational quality. For this reason, there may be different agreements depending on each university.
How does a training internship agreement work?
Actually, as indicated in article 7 of the aforementioned Royal Decree, the training internship agreement will be regulated based on the relationships between the student, the university and the collaborating entity. The three of them sign the agreement and the operation and conditions are established between the three of them.
This means that aspects such as duration can be variable. However, according to the now famous article 7 of the applicable regulations, it must have a series of basic characteristics and include some minimum points:
- The training project object of the practice to be carried out by the student.
- The permit regime to which you are entitled in accordance with current regulations.
- The conditions for early termination of the practice in case of non-compliance with
its terms. - Where applicable, the insurance subscription and payment regime, both for accidents and civil liability, or equivalent financial guarantee.
- The existence, if applicable, of a scholarship or study aid for the student.
- Data protection.
- The regulation of possible conflicts that arise during its development.
- The terms of the university’s recognition of the work carried out by the tutors of the collaborating entity.
Types of training internship agreements
The Royal Decree that regulates the external academic internships of university students, in its article 4, includes two modalities:
- Curricular academic internships: those that are part of the curriculum. Therefore, they can be mandatory and have equivalence in credits. They are carried out during the academic year and the student has a tutor (both at the university and in the company) and both carry out an evaluation.
- Extracurricular academic internships: In this case, the internships must be related to the degree being taken, but are not part of the study plan. Consequently, credits are not obtained and are voluntary. In any case, they are recommended due to the training benefits they offer.
Advantages of carrying out the training internship agreement
If you are studying a university degree at a center that has an established training internship agreement, you should seriously consider the possibility of carrying out this type of training complement. Its advantages are obvious:
- New competencies, skills and abilities: In addition to theoretical knowledge, you will understand the daily life of a professional; the problems he faces and how he solves them, how he makes decisions, what the environment in which he moves is like. In addition to endless details that will help you in the future if you pay attention and diligence.
- Self-improvement: not everything related to the world of work is reduced to technical skills. You also need to see up close what it is like to have to organize yourself to deal with daily work. You will test all kinds of skills that will help you get to know yourself better as a professional, as well as discover your strengths and weaknesses.
- Ease when looking for a job: In addition to the fact that you will have some experience and it will be a point in your favor, having been within a company you will better understand the business culture, how the selection processes work and how It is the prototype of the requested profile. That is, you will be more prepared to face the real working world.
- Networking: Internships in a company are a source of professional contacts that can be useful in the future. You will meet colleagues and bosses and even suppliers, clients and other types of professionals related to the sector. You can get recommendations from them for your LinkedIn profile or save their contact if you find them interesting profiles so that you can establish professional relationships in the future.
At the UIE we understand these advantages and consider that training is not complete without having included work internships. Employability is one of our priorities and is part of our innovative academic model.
