RCE Internships or Placements by recent graduates and university students

[Adam Cade]

The Ning site could be used to gather initial views and thoughts from the current and past interns (Cristel, Marina, Hamoon, Emilie), as well as all the people on the email distribution (Jos, Heloise, Zainal, Valerie, Zinaida, Nami, Yoshi).

By the May 2009 RCe conference next year it may be good to consider these sort of outcomes 1) illustrate some case studies of graduate interns with RCEs 2) illustrate how they are funded and supported and the value they provide to the RCE and themselves 3) suggest how they could be recruited, supported, trained and networked 4) identify some sources of funding for travel, accommodation and living expenses 5) consider the opportunities for a graduate-led project between interested RCEs.

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From: Zinaida Fadeeva [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Mon 28/07/2008 11:25
To: Adam Cade; Yoshihiro Natori
Cc: Nami Akimoto; Jos Hermans; Heloise Buckland; Valerie SCHILLEWAERT; [e-mail]; Emilie Morin; [e-mail]
Subject: RE: Trial of Graduate Internships for RCEs


Dear Adam and colleagues,
We, at UNU-IAS, are often having interns for various tasks. Their experiences are very different as interns come for very broad spectrum of activities ranging from event preparation to assistance with concept development. Their backgrounds are different. The time they spent with us also varies from a couple of weeks to several months. In fact, some people who work with us are not officially called interns but could be considered as such.
I am not quite clear what outcome you would like to derive from the discussion on Ning? Understanding of the organisational capacity to host? People who are interested to be an intern? Personal experiences of the interns? Etc. If you are keen to learn about first two questions and alike issues, perhaps you need to invite Jos, Zainal and Heloise and others to contribute?
My question is what understanding you would like to have in order to propose the RCE scheme (which in itself is a very good idea)?
All the best!
Zinaida


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From: Adam Cade [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Mon 28/07/2008 7:06 PM
To: Yoshihiro Natori
Cc: Nami Akimoto; Zinaida Fadeeva; Jos Hermans; Heloise Buckland; Valerie SCHILLEWAERT; [e-mail]; Emilie Morin; [e-mail]; Adam Cade
Subject: RE: Trial of Graduate Internships for RCEs


Natori-san,

Thank you for your support for this. I think the best start would be to ask Cristel, Marina, Hamoon and Emilie to describe the value they got/ are getting from their internship and to give us some thoughts on what we should consider in developing more RCE graduate internships. I will set up a Ning Group on RCE Internships to enable them to constribute their thoughts. It would be helpful if Heloise and Zainal could encourage them to contribute. Perhasp the people on this email distribution list could also consider contributing to this group.

Adam Cade


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From: Yoshihiro Natori [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Mon 28/07/2008 07:10
To: Adam Cade
Cc: Nami Akimoto; Zinaida Fadeeva; Jos Hermans; Heloise Buckland; Valerie SCHILLEWAERT; [e-mail]; Emilie Morin; [e-mail]
Subject: RE: Trial of Graduate Internships for RCEs


Dear Adam,



Thank you for your e-mail and proposal.



I believe that one of the reasons of smooth organization of Barcelona Conference is Cristel’s contribution as an intern. Another UNU-IAS intern is now working for the Health Thematic Network here.



I agree with your proposal to explore possible ways of developing and promoting RCE Interns with you, RCE Hamburg, RCE S N Sea and UNU-IAS team (and maybe RCE Rhine Muese and RCE Barcelona) towards next International RCE.



Regards,

Yoshi Natori





-----Original Message-----
From: Adam Cade [mailto:[e-mail]]
Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 9:23 PM
To: Yoshihiro Natori
Cc: Nami Akimoto; Zinaida Fadeeva; Jos Hermans; Heloise Buckland; Valerie SCHILLEWAERT; [e-mail]; Emilie Morin; [e-mail]
Subject: Trial of Graduate Internships for RCEs



Natori-san,



Cristel was very helpful as an RCE Intern for the Barcelona Conference. We were also all impressed by the student/youth voice of Marina at the conference. The Health Working Group also mentioned RCE Interns in their group’s presentation. So I wonder if it would be worthwhile promoting the value of youth/ student/ graduate involvement with RCEs.



Could we work with the UNU RCE team and a few other RCEs to explore graduate internships for RCEs?



This might include how RCEs could have the assistance of an RCE graduate intern from another country, the value of this to the RCE and the graduate, the potential sources of funding, and ways in which some sort of accreditation or formal support could be provided for the RCE interns. These RCE interns could mostly be recent postgraduates who might go from one country or RCE to another on 3-6 month internship, with accommodation, living expenses and travel costs covered by the host (In Europe RCE East Midlands now has funding to provide RCE Hamburg and RCE S N Sea with 8 3-month interns over the next year or so to act as assistants to the RCE Coordinators, funded by EU Leonardo, EU Youth in Action or similar funding). There seem to be several funding sources for this sort of internship – for example in Japan the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation may provide funding for similar internships. Both Valerie and Jens have suggested that their graduate interns, who will start in September, could work on some issues of interest to a group of RCEs, as well as focusing on their own host RCEs. We currently have Emilie Morin as a graduate intern working on some projects linked to RCEs. By May we would have some case studies of how RCE interns have been of value. One or two of them, as well as student/graduate interns from Canada and the American RCEs, could even be asked to present from their perspective at the 2009 conference. Other RCEs, perhaps linked to the Health group, may also have some experiences and views to offer.



If supported at the Montreal 2009 conference, after hearing about a few case studies, a more planned, structured programme of RCE Internships could be established. This seems to fit with the postgraduate internships offered by UNU. If you wished, we would be willing to explore this with RCE Hamburg, RCE S N Sea and UNU Team and report back to the May 2009 conference on ways of developing and promoting RCE Interns as Assistants to RCE Coordinators and member organisations.





Adam Cade



Chief Executive, StudentForce for Sustainability

and Coordinator, RCE East Midlands

Oakham Railway Station, Station Approach, Oakham LE15 6QT

Tel: Oakham office - 01572 723 419 Home office - 01780 729 282 Skype - adamcade0

Fax - 01572 725 830

Email - [e-mail]

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