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‘Ramen noodles budget’: EU moves to end exploitation of unpaid internships
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2024
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I am a professor as several different schools in France (business, notarial studies, agricultural engineers, communication). I would day 95% of my students are from well-to-do families. But, most of them are required to find paid internships. The notary students usually get unpaid internships.
As an internship advisor, I can confirm one thing: paid or not, they put in the hours and take the same crap as a paid employee. Sometimes it is worse. For example, if an intern is absent from work, the message gets to me, and I send it up the chain of command and sometimes parents get involved. It is stressful for the students. My business students get paid internships (about €1400/month) but still need help from their parents and many of them will be doing something they don't really want to do (think finance instead of marketing).
Now, being a professor I am in contact with a rather large network of of profs spanning the private and public sector... My colleagues from the public sector are worried about this looming change to laws. It would lead to an overhaul of the system as the internship is counted as a credit. If it is decided that they should be paid, how many companies will want to pay when they can just hire a part-timer for the summer?
What do you mean parents gets involved? Aren't they 18 by the time of their internship?
This shocked me as well because my parents weren't involved with my work or education after finishing high school.
In France, this is not the case. The majority of people are supported by their parents until the end of secondary education, especially when it comes to my students who are all in private institutions.
It is extremely rare for a student to have a job, for example.
Parents do get involved for even minor things, and will come stomping into the school flanked by a lawyer.
Why would they be involved?
Because they pay. That's all.
Now, university is practically free and lots of students get a bursary (not a loan) to help them along. But, their parents will still pay rent sometimes because a full-time student with a job is seen as the most amazing thing here.
I will often bring up this stark contrast to how when I was a student I had 4 different jobs and still ended my studies 60k in debt and didn't even see my parents during the school year, let alone get any money from them.
I am french too and while my parents do pay for my studies they are never directly involved. Maybe it's a school difference but I find this so weird, because I am in a public faculté
If I remember correctly, my teachers were saying that they were legally restricted from sharing informations to student's parents emailing them.
Probably a private school thing in that case. I haven't taught at a public uni since 2008, but parents wouldn't have tried to get involved back then.
I cannot contact parents, but administrators will without question.
Damn, what a weird thing. Glad to be in the public then