Abstract:

After eleven years of experience in mobility programmes such as Leonardo da Vinci, six years with Erasmus placements and four with their own programme Prácticas Solidarias en Países Empobrecidos (Development Programme in Poor Countries) in Universitat Jaume I, over 400 graduates and undergraduates have been benefited from them. The coordination of this project relies on the Careers Service, in collaboration with an academic network of coordinators and mentors. As a result of this team work, the quality of the project has been recognized several times by the European Education and Training Programmes Office (OAPEE), depending on the Spanish Ministry of Education. This paper displays the achievements, but it also serves as a contribution to future challenges dealing with curricular and extracurricular external internships in the European Higher Education Area, facing the new changes, included the Erasmus + programme. Indeed, it will be taken into account the learning about the process through the quantitative and qualitative methodology. The themes that have been revised include the following: professional insertion, organization, selection and training of the participants, academic coordination and monitoring systems, and academic mentoring. But also the training and motivation of the academic staff, the relationship with the host entities, the academic and professional recognition, together with the challenges gathered in the new programme Erasmus + 2014-2020.

Keywords:

Employability, competencies, mobility programmes, external work placements.