Connecting globally, gaining new experiences, improving foreign language skills and improving soft skills – a Turing Scheme or Erasmus+ internship abroad can help students with all of the above. Experience abroad enhances CVs and shows mobility, flexibility and international experience. More and more emphasis is placed on international experience on a curriculum vitae and it is becoming increasingly important for gaining a job. However, how can a teacher encourage students to join in with an Erasmus+ or Turing Scheme project?
With a Turing Scheme or Erasmus+ internship abroad, students demonstrate ambition, courage and willpower to do something for their own professional advancement. In an international environment, students gain professional experience, which grows maturity. So-called soft skills such as tolerance, self-confidence, culture and flexibility are also greatly enhanced.
Learning A New Foreign Language
Mastering English as a foreign language a matter of course, and knowledge of a second foreign language is required for a large number of job advertisements. The filling of a vacancy is increasingly linked to an applicant's foreign language skills. This is where an Erasmus+ or a Turing Scheme internship becomes invaluable. Students have to deal with work colleagues and customers in their respective language every day and also use language in their spare time to navigate through everyday life in the chosen host country. This is a fast (and better) way to learn a new language.
Acquiring International Competence
Getting to know a foreign country and its people and culture is very important today, especially if someone wants to work in an internationally orientated company in the future. The important "soft skill" of "intercultural competence" can be better demonstrated with a completed Turing Scheme or Erasmus+ mobility.
Gaining Personal Experience
The Turing Scheme or Erasmus+ internship abroad also brings a lot of advantages in terms of developing a student’s personality: self-confidence, self-reliance, a sense of responsibility – to name a few. Additionally, a Turing Scheme or Erasmus experiences + expands horizons.
Better Job Prospects
Those who have a Turing Scheme or Erasmus+ internship abroad on their CV often have better opportunities when applying for a job and are usually one step ahead of their competitors. Foreign language skills and other skills acquired during a Turing Scheme or Erasmus+ internship abroad, such as soft skills, often tip the scales when it comes to the decision-making process.
Building Networks
During a Turing Scheme or Erasmus+ internship abroad, students make many new international contacts, which help them benefit once more in later professional life. With social media such as LinkedIn and Xing and Co, it is becoming easier and easier to form networks and maintain diverse contacts, and it’s also becoming very important too.
To sum up, a Turing Scheme or Erasmus+ internship abroad not only encourages professional development, but also broadens one's horizons. It also helps when competing for jobs.
- Guide for Erasmus+ Funding Applicants
- Handbook for Erasmus+ Project Management & Execution
Have you been able to motivate your students to participate in an Erasmus+ or Turing Scheme mobility? Then you could benefit from Erasmus+ or Turing Scheme Funding. If you have any questions about Erasmus+ or the Turing Scheme, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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