In recent years, there has been an increased interest in how to maximise the potential of internships and develop the skills needed for the workplace through the use of problem-based learning (Musa et al.; Johari & Bradshaw, 2008; Treleaven & Voola, 2008). This has coincided with an increasing focus by the Danish government and Universities, such as Aalborg University, on what students are able to do as a result of their university education and how best to prepare them for a job in their field of studies. Such questions have put pressure on universities to reevaluate their programmes and has placed the issue of how students learn in higher education at center stage. The aim of this project is to understand the interactions between learners, real tasks and supervisors in PBL learning internships and projects at DIR and ES and evaluate how these study programmes are equipping its students with the necessary skills to get a job in the fields of Development and International Relations. Therefore, the project sets out to address three key challenges which both DIR/ES students and the Department of Culture and Global Studies face: (1) how to help students get a job which is directly linked to their intended profession; (2) how to assist students to identify the employability skills they are learning through PBL and link them to professional goals; (3) how to use the internship project as an opportunity to enhance students’ employability and skills as well as it being an academic project.

The project consists of three phases:

Phase 1 (spring 2018):

Interviews with DIR/ES students on their internships and their employees to understand the interactions between learners, real tasks and supervisors in PBL learning internships.

Phase 2 (autumn 2018):

Based on the findings from phase 1, we will create a set of guidelines to strengthen use of internships and internship projects;
A workshop for DIR/ES students to prepare students for entering the world of work and market the PBL skills they have learned through both their internship and their studies at AAU;
A seminar for staff at DIR/ES to discuss our findings and providing concrete ideas for how to use internships projects in a more targeted manner, maximize supervision and to suggest changes to the project management course (part of the DIR MA programme) to better prepare students for entering their intended profession;
A seminar for DIR/ES students to discuss how they can use the internship to develop generic attributes, besides disciplinary knowledge, that will increase their job prospects, and supervision during the internship.

Phase 3 (late autumn 2018):

Publication of results in a peer reviewed journal such as the Journal of Problem Based Learning in Higher Education;
A workshop to key findings of this project to all AAU staff.

ANSVARLIG

• Malayna Raftopoulos (Raftopoulos@cgs.aau.dk), Department of Culture and Global Studies, Faculty of Social Science 

ØVRIGE DELTAGERE

• Anne Bislev (abislev@cgs.aau.dk) Department of Culture and Global Studies, Faculty of Social Science