Professional practice + 3 months mobility

Hi,

I do not understand fully several issues regarding mobility stay outside EU (I am European) and professional practice and info in the web site does not help much.

Should the mobility stay be carried out between 2nd and 3rd semester? Does this mobility stay counts as professional practice (so there are just 3 months remaining for the 4th semester) or it is something completely different?

How is it possible to make 6 months professional practice (according to the rules) in 5 months allocated for it (according to the schedule April-August)?

Is it possible to split the professional practice in parts, e.g. I already know that there will be a 2 month gap between the 3rd and the 4th semester for me, so I would prefer to make a short practice then and the rest later, so that I get some free time in the summer and also working for 2 different companies is more interesting...would this be ok?

Hi, I absolutely agree with you - this is more than confusing. But EAAA is planning to produce newcomers welcome package, which will explain such basic things about EuroAquae that were not explained by our coordinators. And your (new generation) help is very welcome. So, please, ask more questions and collect all useful info, that can be passed on to the next newcomers.
So, answering your questions....

Mobility outside EU should be completed by all European students between 2nd and 3rd semester and you are given money for this. It is some kind of exchange: non-Europeans comes to study in EU, Europeans go to study in their countries for short term. This is NOT a part of professional practice.

Professional practice is a part of curriculum, and should be undertaken during the fourth semester in ONE company, because 5-6 months will be just enough to get familiar with the organization and to write your thesis. In fact, they are talking about 6 months of prof. practice, but it is never the case, because normally you finish Hydro-Europe in the beginning of March and your graduation is in September. 5 months is a norm, but some people did even less. It will depend on your negotiation with the company itself and contract conditions. Coordinators need only completed thesis, proving that you tasted the real work.

At the same time you can work in some companies during summer holidays, and EA coordinators, teachers and alumni might help you with those short placements. But this will not count for professional practice, but rather for your own CV.

Thank you. And newcomers package could be great

There are some additional issues I still do not understand.

Newcastle (2nd semester) ends on 30 June, but there is only 2 months time till beginning of the next semester (if semester starts in beginning of Sept) instead of 3 needed for the mobility stay. So that means that I will be able to start studies only in October? Or this is the same principle as for the professional practice - 3 months in 2 ?

>Anna
Pay attention, you cannot call all reports made by the students who chose the professional practices.
Some of them does not have a form and scientific value to be a master thesis. They will be recognized as just "reports," not thesis.

Hello Atis,

I'm european (french), I was in the second generation of Euroaquae and I did my "Action 3 mobility" in Singapore.
And yes, I stayed in Singapore for 2 months, even though in theory it was supposed to be 3.
If you have any other questions, I'll be happy to answer.

Cheers

Elsa

PS: Anna, Keiko how are you doing ?

So I already see the problem with writing a piece information, reflecting the reality for newcomers. Although course administrations usually welcome suggestions regarding improvements of the course, they do not always like such guides for potential students, which show obvious flaws in the course in the manner of "... although course regulations say one thing, the reality is different.." ) not only regarding 5 in 6 and 2 in 3 months concept...

Hi Atis,

Thank you for your comments, questions.

I agree with you the information provided on course regulations is confusing and it is probably not the only area where there could be slight differences between theory and reality but... (see following paragraphs)

This curriculum is trying (and I would say quite successfully if we look at employment rate after graduation) to infuse more than purely academic knowledge.

Its aims is to prepare students to be appreciated professionals.

Even if it is far fetched as there are plenty of aspects which could and should be improved, the course reflects what is happening in daily professional life where plans are changing, where information is missing and so on.

Your idea of splitting professional practice in time and among different companies is quite interesting and basically I would say why not, there are nevertheless some aspects of it which are not fitting into the professional practice framework and concept as far as I understand it.

Firstly, you need some sort of gentleman agreement/contract (probably for insurance purpose in case of accident during practice) between the company and the university/curriculum. Ok, there could be two of them but it needs to be approved by coordinator.

Secondly, one aim of professional practice is to get enough time to explore different aspects of professional life, being involved in long enough projects or project phases or research activities in order to have significant exposure and experience.

Thirdly, second aim of professional practice is to give opportunity for the student and the company to appreciate each other and hopefully to secure a working contract.

If you are looking for job after graduation, significant working experience and significant knowledge in some areas is extremely important that's the reason why professional practices are in general of 6 months duration.

Nothing prevents you from having your practice being longer than 5 - 6 months, you just have to provide a report (or could be called thesis depending on the level of scientific value your practice experience was) and a presentation at the dates requested by the curriculum.

There were students who had their practice finishing well after the graduation date.

To finish this long reply, I would say the format is very important but the spirit and the goal are the main points.

Good luck for your studies.

I hope that this forum and the EuroAquae Alumni Association (EAAA which works for both alumni, current and future students) will be able to provide you with the help, information and support to make your time in EuroAquae an enjoyable and successful one.

Jean-Michel.

Jean-Michel, thank you for the comprehensive reply. Now I understand the concept of EuroAquae much better With regards to splitting the practice, I was more concerned about limited time, so it seemed more logical to me to fill my free months between semesters with a practice in order to be able to devote more time for the final report in the summer.

Now I know it is theoretically possible. Of course, there are many advantages if the practice is longer, but I feel that is very important to have more diverse experience as well.

I would say, it is possible not TEORETICALLY, but according to JEAN-MICHEL, who (unfortunately) do not participate in course coordination . So, first of all, you will need to get agreement from EuroAquae coordinators.