Get a student of Environmental Technologist as an intern

New ideas | New angles | New knowledge

Accepting an intern from the Environmental Technologist programme is an excellent opportunity for you and your company to team up with a student who can carry out complex tasks within the environmental area.

By agreeing to collaborate on an internship you can get:

more resources to solve environmental issues both within the private and public sector
the possibility to test a future employee
the possibility to give an intern valuable experience from the practical field

Most students in internship produce their final examination project at the internship place in continuation of their internship. Student projects are a good opportunity for the internship host to, for example, look in detail at a specific environmental issue from a practical point of view, carry out an analysis or add resources to a project in the development process.

What type of work can you expect an intern to carry out?

These are examples of internship tasks and final exam projects:

Optimisation of running a waste water purification plant
Implementation of water environmental plans in private companies
Mapping of drinking water resources in a municipality
Development and quality assurance of groundwater drilling
Exercise of authority in the public environmental sector
Optimisation af a biogas production plant
Handling of polluted soil
Sorting and exploitation of waste in a private company
Green accounts
Life cycle analysis
Sampling and measurement of environmental specimens

If you would like to learn more about how you can make use of an internship, please download the folder or contact Rudi Brent.

Planning of the internship period

The cooperative relationship between the student and the company will of course vary from company to company. What is important is a positive and ambitious attitude towards the cooperation from both parties.

We have compiled some good advice that will help you as well as the student to benefit as much as possible from the internship.

Student and company adjust expectations prior to the internship period. This involves tasks to be performed, working hours and other expectations to ensure mutually satisfactory cooperation.
Always feel free to contact the student’s internship counsellor at the Academy for inspiration, information or advice concerning the internship. The student is completing an internship in order to learn. Make sure you provide a good mixture of tasks of both a challenging and also a more routine-based nature. Some are able to handle a lot of responsibility from day one, others need a more careful dosage.
It is recommended to link the student to one or more contacts throughout the internship, individuals who can help guide, inspire and motivate the student.
Think about and discuss what a good subject could be for the student’s final exam project. Some agree on the subject at an early stage, whereas others wait until they know each other a little better.
Introduce the student to the entire company, look at the intern as a ‘fully accepted’ member of the team.
Be proactive – talk to the student or the Academy if something is not quite as expected.

The student, the company and Business Academy Aarhus will sign an internship agreement prior to the internship.

When and for how long?

The internship period is divided in two parts:

1st period: 2 weeks in July/August
2nd period: 8 weeks in March/April

The periods can possibly be arranged differently. After the end of the long internship period, the student and the company can agree that the final exam project will be written in cooperation with the company.

Get an intern for free

As the internship is a part of the Environmental Technology programme, your company is not obliged to pay a salary to the intern.

The company is allowed to give the student a ‘token’ payment of up to 3000 DKK per month.

Subsidies for transport, rent and a phone, which the student can document are related to the internship, can be given without affecting the student's educational grant (SU).

Declaration of secrecy

A student who becomes aware of trade secrets during his/her internship may not share or use this information without prior approval as stipulated in the Commercial Secrets Act, §4. Business Academy Aarhus employees and external co-examiners who are involved with internships are also covered by §4 of the Commercial Secrets Act, just as they have a duty of confidentiality pursuant to Chapter 8, Section §27 of the Public Administration Act.

Insurance

If the internship takes place in a company in Denmark, the student is covered by the act on worker's compensation (lov om arbejdsskadesikring), cf. Ministerial Order no.185 from 23 February 2017, and by the act on liability for damages (lov om erstatningsansvar).

It is therefore the internship company’s responsibility to insure the intern, just as all other employees are insured. Associations and sole proprietors are also covered by the duty to insure, even if you don’t have any other employees.

If the internship takes place in a company outside of Denmark, then it is the student's responsibility to examine and assess whether he or she can be covered by the company's insurance policies. In cases where the student is not covered by the company's insurance, the student must ensure that they have any necessary insurance.

Facts about the programme

The Environmental Technologist is the first 2 years of a Bachelor’s programme which, among others, qualifies the students to work with environmental tasks in both the private and public sector.

Read more about the programme (only in Danish)