There are a number of openings for jobs and internships in European Union institutions at the moment. One of these openings is with the General Secretariat of the Council (GSC). The GSC employs about 3,000 people altogether and offers around 100 paid traineeships a year to EU nationals.

While most applications the GSC currently receives are from candidates with qualifications in law, political science, international relations, EU studies and economics, the GSC says it is also looking for trainees with qualifications in other areas: such as agricultural technology.

Other areas the GSC is interested in receiving applicants from include health and food safety, environment, biochemical engineering, energy management, education studies, communication, human resources, multimedia, translation, graphic design, aerospace engineering and computer sciences.

Trainees receive a traineeship grant of €1,122.40 per month, a restaurant reduction and a contribution towards the travel expenses from the place of recruitment to Brussels.

The work trainees would be doing in this role includes attending and organising meetings, working groups, drafting minutes, filing, translating documents, researching and compiling documentation, reports and answering queries.

Traineeships last five months, and applications are currently being accepted for the traineeship commencing on 1 February. Applicants for these paid traineeships must have recently graduated from a university or equivalent higher-education establishment and have a degree certificate or equivalent.

Successful candidates will be placed under the responsibility of a traineeship adviser, who will guide and supervise their work. Candidates will also participate in a training programme which includes conferences and visits to other EU institutions.

The deadline for applications is 1 October.

The GSC also offers approximately 20 unpaid traineeships per year for third, fourth and fifth year third-level students who have to do a training period as part of their course.

Internship at the European Snacks Association

If you have a background in food science or technology with an understanding of key concepts related to food processing (such as agricultural production, for example), you may be interested in a paid five-month internship with the European Snacks Association (ESA).

This is a trade association dedicated to the advancement of the European savoury snack industry, and its members represent roughly 80% of the entire European snack market.

Responsibilities

The intern’s tasks will include supporting ESA’s regulatory and scientific affairs manager in the preparation, running and follow-up of meetings of the EC regulatory and nut processors working groups; monitoring sector-relevant EU regulatory issues on food safety; communicating with members as required; and attending external meetings and events, among other responsibilities.

The intern should have good research, analytical, organisational and communications skills and excellent English, while other European languages are “highly appreciated”. CL

The deadline for applications is 15 September, and interested candidates should apply at eurobrussels.com/job_apply_questions.php?job_id=120012

University of Limerick loves its first-year students

First Seven Weeks is a programme run over – you guessed it – seven weeks, at the University of Limerick (UL). The programme has been running since 2010 and aims to support first-year students in the initial weeks of college life. The initiative was the brainchild of Sarah Moore, chair of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, as well as associate vice president in UL.

But what was the motivation for founding the programme in the first place? The Centre of Teaching and Learning’s Karen McGrath explains: “No more than anywhere, UL is a huge campus. All students leaving sixth year are experts – but when they get to college they feel a bit lost, both physically and mentally and it takes a while to get their bearings.

“Students do need a bit of handholding in those first few weeks, and Sarah Moore thought it would be nice if they had somebody to guide them,” says Karen.

Student hub

For the first seven weeks of the first semester, the ground-floor office room of UL’s students’ union building is turned into a hub, where students can pop in to ask questions.

If the people in the hub don’t know the answer to the question, they know how to find it out.

“Very often it’s not the academic stuff that stresses people out; it’s things like, where’s the supermarket?” explains Karen.

“Furthermore, about seven or eight weeks into term, students realise: ‘Oh gosh, it’s not all about partying and having fun, you have to do a bit of work here!’”

Karen notes that orientation tours are given during week zero, and it can be a bit of an information overload. But this is where First Seven Weeks steps in.

Each of the first seven weeks has an individual theme, concentrating on one aspect of college life in particular.

Week one, for instance, is devoted entirely to helping as many people as possible navigate their way around. “We have people in bright orange T-shirts at the entrance to every building,” says Karen. “That’s our focus for the week.”

This is followed by study skills and time management in week two where, for example, Professor Billy O’Connor in the medical school gives a talk on how the brain works. Karen says people queue out the door for him. Students meet their advisers in week three. An adviser is usually someone in the same course as the student but is a bit further along, meaning they are a good source of advice.

Health and wellbeing is the focus of week four. Last year this saw the restaurant do a cookery demo and the medical school do a demo on BreastCheck.

Week five will focus on ensuring students are up to speed with the helpful learning centres on campus.

Week six is about civic engagement and volunteering awareness.

The seventh, and final, week will look at critical thinking and students’ engagement with their studies.

Karen notes that the library, in particular, runs lots of great programmes to get students up to speed on third-level academic life during the first few weeks. For example, students are shown how to check in and check out books and how to access academic journals. CL