Abstract:

There is no doubt how enriching student exchanges are, formalized through any type of international program: Erasmus, international exchanges, etc. Most of them are aimed at taking a series of subjects and integrating as another student into the destination university. The advantages they can provide to students who spend a stay abroad are well known, including: an opportunity for traveling, learning a new language, another way of working, innovation, being part of a different culture, etc.

However, there is a type of students stay that is not usually considered and that provides very important value for the student for their professional, personal, and also academic development, which are internships. Students travel to carry out research or in-depth tasks on a specific topic, which encourages a series of practical skills that are added to those of an exchange. Even more, internships have become somewhat of a prerequisite of obtaining a job after (o before) graduation.

In fact, sometimes these two teaching methodologies confront each other, learning vs. doing. However, in this type of experiences both are combined so that the student benefits from both approaches. While working on a project that allows you to develop skills that will be fundamental for your professional development, you are learning concepts related to subjects in your degree and establishing this knowledge with practices.

But there is a crucial aspect that is not usually considered and that is critical for the internship to be beneficial. Students who travel with an internship join a project whose topic must be attractive enough for them to decide to go and work on that topic. We think that most of the time students do not chose this option because they do not a clear idea about what they are going to work on, or they think that it entails an added layer of professional responsibility that may be too big for them.

In this work we summarize an Erasmus+ Traineeship carried out on the field on renewable energies and how it was proposed. We came to the idea of this topic because we think that for the exchange to be successful, the project must not only adapt to the student's previous training and skills, but it has to fit with their motivations.

The topic of renewable energy attracts students and connects with their lofty ideals of a cleaner world. It is also aligned with one of the main themes that is driving the Erasmus 2021-2027 program, the green and digital transitions [1].

Specifically, the design of a floating wind turbine prototype was proposed so that the student could develop not only cognitive, but also practical skills: software management, hardware, design, mechanical implementation, electronics, etc, in a multidisciplinary project.

References:
[1] Erasmus+ Programme. https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/about_en

Keywords:

Internationalization, education, transnational, university, Erasmus+, internship, energy systems, wind energy project.