News

With great success, German universities are participating in Erasmus Mundus II, the second phase of the Erasmus Mundus program promoting European higher education as a center of excellence in the world. Erasmus Mundus II, which began this year, aims to become the EU reference program for educational cooperation with non-European countries. Over a period of five years, just over EUR 950 million will be available for European and third-country universities to join forces in joint programs or collaborative partnerships, and to grant scholarships to European and third-country students for an international study experience.

Among Erasmus Mundus II participants, Germany ranks first in development of Master programs and third in Doctoral programs, developing 64 percent and 62 percent respectively of Erasmus programs that are open to students from all over the world.

Regarding this news, Germany’s Federal Education Minister Annette Schavan said: "With attractive Master's and Doctoral programs, we provide excellent young professionals from around the world an incentive to come to Germany and Europe. We make the European Higher Education Area a magnet for highly skilled graduates from around the world."

For more information on Erasmus Mundus II, please visit www.eu.daad.de/eu/erasmus/05332.html or ec.europa.eu/education/external-relation-programmes/doc72_en.htm

SOURCE: DAAD News (8-21-2009)

Starting Fresh With an Unpaid Internship

Three months after getting laid off from a small visual-effects company in February, Beki Gibney started working again—as an unpaid intern.

“It feels weird being an intern at my age after five years of working,” says Ms. Gibney, 28 years old. “It takes a stab at my pride some days.”

Internships—temporary positions that pay little or no salary—are typically designed for college students or recent graduates exploring potential career paths. But with unemployment at 9.5%, some older laid-off workers are taking on these stints to stay busy, gain new skills and expand their networks. In the meantime, they continue to job hunt and, in some cases, collect unemployment benefits.

Ms. Gibney says her unpaid summer position at Revel In LLC, a small multimedia production company in New York, is introducing her to documentary storytelling, with which she had no prior experience. The internship provides free lunch and coffee, along with less-tangible benefits.

“It gives me the ability to keep my skills sharp and keep myself active,” Ms. Gibney says. Before landing the 16-hour-a-week gig, she adds, “I felt guilty and depressed just sitting at home looking for jobs that didn’t exist.”

Scott Newman, partner and co-founder of Revel In, says initially he thought Ms. Gibney was overqualified. “But she was really clear about redefining where she’s going and what she’s doing, so we were open-minded,” he says. The company hires interns who are skilled and ambitious regardless of their age or experience level, he adds. “We like to work with talented people, to mentor and help them, and it may be a platform for hiring them,” he says.

Some internships come with perks. Melissa Pereira, 33 years old, isn’t being paid for the 20 hours a week she spends helping CleanEdison, a New York provider of test-preparation and other services, manage its online-marketing strategy. But she is taking its $595 training course for obtaining certification in environmental design free. The start-up is also covering her commuting expenses, among other benefits.

Ms. Pereira was laid off last fall from Sun Microsystems Inc., where she worked for eight years, most recently as a senior global communications manager. While job hunting, she saw an ad on Craigslist.org for the internship at Clean Edison and applied. “I explained that I wanted to learn the green industry and see if it was something I’d want to commit to,” she says.

Ms. Pereira and Ms. Gibney continue to look for paid jobs, with the blessing of their temporary employers. They’re hoping their internships, which are listed on their resumes, will boost their odds of success.

“It was helpful for us to get somebody of her caliber applying for one our internships,” says Avi Yashchin, president of Clean Edison.

Each woman has been collecting about $400 a week in unemployment insurance. “There’s no way I could do this if I wasn’t receiving unemployment,” says Ms. Pereira, who recently gave up her apartment and moved in with two roommates to save $1,600 a month.

Jay Zweig, a partner in the employment-law practice at Bryan Cave LLP, says unpaid interns may collect unemployment benefits as long as they are actively searching for work. Bob Riordan, a partner in the labor and employment practice at Alston & Bird LLP warns that federal law prohibits companies from using unpaid interns as substitutes for paid employees.

To avoid legal complications, some employers limit unpaid internships to college students receiving school credit. Last spring, Ashley Biever enrolled in a continuing-education program at the University of California, Los Angeles, primarily to qualify for an internship.

She was laid off in February from a large public-relations agency; it was her second layoff since she graduated from Emerson College in 2005. She is now interning at Stan Rosenfield & Associates Ltd., a publicity firm for actors George Clooney, Robert De Niro and others.

Potential interns, whether students or not, face one big obstacle this year: There are fewer internships available because of the recession. Employers polled last winter by the National Association of Colleges and Employers said they planned to reduce the number of internship offers by nearly 21%.

Accounting and consulting firm Ernst & Young LLP hired 2,100 interns, down 7.7% from last year. Toll Brothers Inc. suspended its internship program indefinitely. “It’s hard to justify hiring interns when we are laying off employees,” says Jay R. Lehman, director of national recruiting for the luxury home builder.

To land an internship after working elsewhere, you’ll need to explain why you’re willing to take a step back, says Constance Dierickx, a management psychologist at RHR International Co., an organizational-development firm in Wood Dale, Ill. “You need to talk early about the benefits of hiring you,” she says. “It works well to say that you’re looking to make a career change or to learn something new. It doesn’t work well to say I lost my job and don’t have anything else to do.”

Put as much effort into your candidacy for an internship as you would for a salaried position, adds Ms. Dierickx. Research employers and study their Web sites to show you are familiar with them and are serious. “Just because a company isn’t paying doesn’t mean that it’s not investing in you,” she says.

Don’t ask if the internship could lead to a paying job in an interview or even after an offer has been made, adds Ms. Dierickx. “You don’t want to be too eager,” she says. She recommends waiting until near the end of the internship.

Ms. Gibney, who is two months into her internship, says she’d like a permanent position with Revel In but hasn’t asked about one. “I don’t want them to think it’s the only reason I took the internship,” she says. “But paying work down the road would be nice.”

SOURCE: online.wsj.com (7-16-2009)

German Departments Face Cutbacks While German Study Increases

One more indicator of the economic crisis this year is the downsizing of German language programs at universities around the United States. A recent article in Inside Higher Ed names five universities planning on cutting back admissions to the major or even eliminating whole German departments. This comes after the University of Southern California announced last year it would eliminate its German department. Now, the future of German is in jeopardy at Florida State University, the University of Iowa, the University of Arkansas, the University of Idaho and Washington State University. Things have become so dire that the German Studies Association has created a “German in danger” listserv, where German students and educators can share information and offer support when a department is in affected by the cuts.

The universities considering cutbacks site the economy, the small endowments of German departments and the lower enrollments in German than in other language departments. However, the number of students studying German in the US is continually on the rise. It is the third most popular language taken by American students, behind Spanish and French. And more and more German programs are building ties with other departments and areas of study, such as history, the arts and engineering.

SOURCE: News from DAAD 2009/10

TAP 2009 - Best of Immersion Seminar in Berlin

The TAP team kicked off the Transatlantic Program 2009 with the filled 10-day Immersion Seminar in Berlin on May 23rd. The Seminar provides the participants with intensive German language instruction and valuable inter-cultural training to prepare for their respective 2-6 month internships at companies and organizations throughout Germany.

The program gave first-hand insight into political, business and cultural related topics, e.g. a presentation and a guided tour of historic and modern Berlin highlighting this year’s 20^th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and a visit of the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt) with a presentation about the “Elections 2009: Germany elects its president, chancellor, and EU parliament president” took place. Beside discussing with the representative for small and medium sized companies at the BMWi (German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology), the students looked into the daily routine of the editorial department of the German newspaper “Der Tagesspiegel”.

During a daytrip to Dresden the students visited the “Transparent Manufactury” (Glaeserne Manufaktur) where VW’s luxury car “Phaeton” is produced, toured the historic center and were welcomed by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK Dresden). In Hamburg the TAP visited the headquarter and manufacturing facility of Airbus and had dinner at Café Oktober to learn about its concept promoting integration and vocational training. The Midterm Seminar mid of July in Cologne will bring the group together to talk about the internship experiences so far.

It was a very successful first part of the TAP 2009 for all the participants and the TAP team thanks all the students for making this such a valuable week and to all the supporters who made us feel welcome and gave us such interesting presentations and insights.

To get more impressions of the trip to Germany check out more pictures at our photogallery.

TAP represented at MERLIN Award Gala 2009

The Transatlantic Program and our sponsors Komet of America and official sponsor WHU were well represented at the 2009 MERLIN Awards Gala in Downtown Chicago. The gala is a signature event of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, Inc. (GACCoM). Every year they announce the winners of the 2009 MERLIN Awards for excellence in German American business. The winners are German American companies located in the Midwest, which demonstrated overall excellence, dedication to quality and the achievement of extraordinary results in 2008. More information about the event.

From left to right: Sabine Klensch - Program Director, Lara Gallant, Mandy Herrmann

Aufschwung im transatlantischen Austausch: Mehr junge Amerikaner in Deutschland

Deutschland wird für junge Amerikaner als Ort für Fort- und Weiterbildungsprogramme immer attraktiver. Nach Angaben der Bundesagentur für Arbeit absolvierten im Jahr 2008 insgesamt 916 Amerikaner ein Praktikum in Deutschland. Dies entspricht einer 50-prozentigen Steigerung im Vergleich zum Vorjahr.

Diese positive Entwicklung liegt offenbar in erster Linie an Deutschlands führender Position im Umwelt- und Klimaschutz. Laut der Internationalen Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH (InWEnt) interessiere sich eine wachsende Zahl amerikanischer Studenten, Absolventen oder junger Berufstätiger für berufspraktische Fortbildungen im Bereich „Erneuerbare Energien“ und „Energieeffizienz“.

SOURCE: RGIT Washington News - No. 10/2009