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Internships and Trainee positions - Everything you need to know
Internship
In this internship guide, we focus exclusively on internships in connection with:
- Your bachelor’s degree
- Your master's degree or research project
- Your trainee course
where you can get an internship in different places, for example:
- Municipal and state administrations
- Private companies
- Abroad
One of the most frequent questions in this context is: Do you get paid when you do an internship?
Is the internship unpaid?
The education regulations state whether the internship period in your education is paid or unpaid.
You can get state educational grant in Denmark (called SU) if, as part of your education, you have to do a project oriented course, for example in a company. The reason is that the course is a teaching course in line with other subjects in education. However, you cannot get paid at the same time.
In the vast majority of cases, the internship will be part of your learning process on your degree, which is why you can receive a state educational grant in Denmark.
If, on the other hand, it is a trainee position, it will be an employment relationship and therefore also a fixed salary. We will come back to that.
We will also come back to how you can apply for grants if you have an internship abroad.
Internships
On the vocational academy courses, where, among other things, the following are trained:
- Laboratory workers
- Financial economists
- Marketing economists
As a professional bachelor, which is not an academic education, there is a great deal of focus on getting an internship, so that the theory can be put into practice. For example, it can be like:
- Nurse
- Midwife
- Teacher
Other areas within the bachelor's programmes that also use internship periods include:
- Social science
- Health science
- Technology and natural sciences
- Theology and humanities
If you take a master's degree, you can also enter a project oriented course. It is elaborated on further in this article.
Internship abroad
A final variant for getting an internship on medium and long term programmes is an internship abroad, also known as a PIU.
You can do this, for example, if you want to train as:
- Teacher
- Nurse
- Agriculture
- Carpenter
- Gardener
Let's look at some of these subjects:
- As a teacher, you can complete your 2nd, 3rd and 4th internship period at an approved internship abroad. Typical duration 2 to 6 weeks
- If you are a nursing student, the possibility of an internship abroad is based on 4th, 5th and 7th semesters
- As a carpentry apprentice, there must simply be a training agreement between the company and the carpentry apprentice, regarding a posting abroad. The master carpenter in Denmark is responsible for the training during the entire secondment. School stays must take place at a vocational school in Denmark
For further guidance, please contact your study advisor.
Since it is not completely free to do an internship abroad, you can apply for various grants.
Erasmus grant
Erasmus+ is a program within the EU that supports students at bachelor's and master's level in work placements and internships abroad. Scientists (PhD students) can also apply for the Erasmus grant.
There are some requirements for you to apply for Erasmus+:
- Your internship must last between 3 to12 months
- Your board of studies must make a pre approval so that you get credit for your internship abroad
- You must have a signed: Erasmus Learning Agreement for Studies or the: Erasmus Training Agreement
An Erasmus grant is a tax free scholarship, which must, however, be reported to the Tax Office. Ask your educational institution for guidance in this context. Save your receipts from transport, housing etc., so that you can document your internship period abroad with the Tax Office.
How do you apply for Erasmus? It depends on which part of the programme you are applying for. Ask your study advisor which application form you should use.
As mentioned, you can also apply for Eramus+ when you are a candidate student.
Internship in connection with your master's degree
A project oriented course is a course for master's students where skills are tested in a workplace, either in Denmark or abroad. A project oriented course is full time and generally lasts three months.
Full time covers over 37 hours per week including the time you use to prepare an internship report.
Consider whether you would like to be included as a natural part of the company's daily operations, or try to make an agreement with the company so that you only work in whole or in part with tasks in the company that reflect your problem, which you would like to have elucidated in connection with your internship.
When you are going on an internship, you must also have an internship contract, which should contain at least the following elements:
- Access to and the name of a relevant internship supervisor on the job
- A relevant supervisor at the university
- A description of what the professional benefit is and what the internship course includes
- A description of the number of hours, including hours for professional immersion, but also regarding: Working conditions in general
Among other things, we have talked a lot about the state educational grant and the Erasmus grant.
If you are a trainee, it differs in relation to both bachelor's programmes.
As a trainee, you get paid.
Trainee
What is a trainee position? When you are a trainee, you generally get a higher salary compared to if you were employed as a student. So, what is the difference between a student and a trainee? Previously, there was a difference in relation to the theoretical and practical approach to education. Today, the two titles are used interchangeably, depending on what the employer thinks is best.
However, there are some industries where traineeships are more widespread than other industries. This applies if you would like to train to become:
- Estate agent
- Accountant
- Freight forwarder, for example within shipping
So where do I find trainee jobs or internships?
Internship and trainee positions
Before you start writing your job application, you just have to find the job to which your internship application needs to be adapted.
The easiest way to do this is by using Findjobhub - where you can find both internships and traineeships.
You can choose to use the search function that you see at the top of the page when you click on this link.
You can also choose to create a free profile for job seekers on Findjobhub.
With your free account on the job portal, you can insert the postcodes where you are looking for an internship or a trainee job. In this way, you will automatically be informed when there are new internships and trainee positions in the areas where you are applying.