Student Traineeship Programme Guide
Traineeships
The goal of the Student Traineeship programme is to bridge the gap between theory and practice and directly link students’ theoretical knowledge with practical experience in the workplace.
Τhe traineeships enable trainees to get in touch with industry professionals gain valuable work experience and familiarise themselves with the real-life production activities at a company or organisation.
Student Traineeship is an Elective (E) course in the Undergraduate level of the Department of Geography and corresponds to 2.5 ECTS (Dept. of Geography Board 6/ 24.02.2016).
Duration – Period – Related topics of Traineeships
Generally, traineeships last for a minimum period of two months.
Traineeships can be carried out throughout the year but they usually take place during summer (from 1 July to 31August). Students are eligible for practical training during the academic term, on condition that they have fulfilled most of their academic requirements. Traineeships cannot justify students’ absence from other academic responsibilities such as lectures and laboratory classes. Therefore, the Departmental Traineeship Committee may decline an application for traineeship occurring over the academic semesters.
Students will have the chance to apply for positions relevant to their desired discipline and should be able to apply the knowledge and technological skills, acquired during their undergraduate studies at the Department of Geography, in a new context. Hence, the employment must be directly related to the major fields of Geography studies, such as: Physical Geography and Environment, Human Geography, Spatial Development and Planning and Geoinformatics.
Traineeship funding scheme
There are three different types of traineeship that can be undertaken.
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Traineeships funded by the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF).
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Traineeships which do not have a funding agreement. In this case and for a limited number of students the basic insurance contributions are paid by the Department of Geography.
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The Erasmus+ Programme supports traineeships abroad for students of the Department of Geography. The University of the Aegean grants traineeships for 2 to 3 months, while students can extend their 3-month traineeships as zero-grant. More information about the traineeships within the Erasmus+ Programme is provided on the Erasmus Office website of the University of the Aegean.
Stages of a Traineeship implementation
Information for receiving organisations/companies
It is a prerequisite for a receiving organization/company to register to the ATLAS web service (https://atlas.grnet.gr/DefaultEn.aspx). ATLAS is a centralized online service which interconnects companies that provide work placements with all academic institutions in Greece by creating a unique internship positions database.
Information for the student(s) - Candidate’s requirements
The student should register for the elective course ‘Traineeship’ during the course registration period.
The Practical Training Office invites students to participate in the Traineeship Programme during the spring semester, providing the necessary information for their registration in the ATLAS system. At the ATLAS online platform, students can search for available internship positions and choose a host company/organisation.
Selection Criteria
The main selection criterion for participation in the Traineeship programme, is the total number of courses that the student has successfully passed (as evidenced by the transcript of records provided by the Department's secretariat). If the number of applicants exceeds the number of traineeship positions offered, secondary criteria are taken into account as detailed in the Traineeship Guide.
Before the Traineeship starts
The student must have a Social Security Registry Number and a Bank account. Then a contract that includes the specific terms, the obligations and rights for each party is signed among the four (4) parties: the Employment company/organization, the University of the Aegean – Research Unit, the Departmental Traineeship Coordinator and the student.
Supervision - Students Assessment
Two supervisors are appointed to each trainee student to monitor his/her progress within the programme. An academic supervisor, who is a faculty member of the Department, and an external supervisor, who is appointed by the host company/organisation. The academic supervisor in collaboration with the external supervisor define the work that the student will do during the traineeship course. The external supervisor assesses the student performance, by completing a standard assessment form provided by the University of the Aegean. The assessment is communicated to the academic supervisor, who makes the final assessment on the student’s performance taking also into account his/her traineeship report.
Submission of forms when the Traineeship is over
The trainee completes and submits electronically: i) the activity report; ii) the evaluation questionnaire; and iii) the "Beneficiary's Census on Exit" (in collaboration with the Practical Training Office). The legal representative of the host organisation fills out: (i) the performance report for the work conducted by the trainee; and (ii) his or her assessment. He/she also fills out and forwards to the University of the Aegean the certificate of the traineeship completion stamped and signed accordingly. The academic supervisor completes the student’s assessment for his/her traineeship. Please note that the aforementioned forms must be submitted within 15 days after the traineeship’s completion.
Contact details
For Traineeship issues with or without NSRF funding, you can contact:
Departmental Training Coordinator: Assist. Professor Chryssanthi (Christy) Petropoulou, email: christy.p@aegean.gr, tel. 2251036476. Office: A.11, 1st floor, Geography building.
Deputy departmental Training Coordinator: Assist. Professor Michalis Vaitis, email: vaitis@aegean.gr, tel. 2251036433. Office: IS.2.21, ground floor, Geography building.
Practical Training Office: Ms. Eleftheria Paschalidou, email: gpa1@aegean.gr, tel. 2251036778. Office: IS.1.11, basement, Geography building.
For Traineeship issues within the Erasmus Programme, you can contact:
Erasmus Departmental Coordinator: Assist. Professor Thomas Tscheulin, email: t.tscheulin@geo.aegean.gr, tel. 2251036463, Office: 1.30, 1st floor, Geography Building.
Erasmus Departmental Coordinator: Assist. Professor Vasilios Gavalas, email: bgav@geo.aegean.gr, tel. 22510364441. Office: 1.31, 1st floor, Geography building.
Erasmus office: Email: erasmus@aegean.gr, tel. 2251036118, 36165. Address: Ground Floor, Administration Building, Mytilene.
