GeoInternInternational
Our Mission
Even though international mobility has a long tradition for scientific staff and PhD students, opportunities for Bachelor and master students to gain relevant work experience in other countries and cultures have been absent. The GeoInternInternational project will provide an arena for Bachelor and Master students in geoscience to obtain international work life experience during their studies. This will help prepare them for future work in internationally operating companies and agencies working to solve challenges of the Earth being an integrated system that knows no borders.
The Main Goals
The project aims to establish a systematic approach to facilitate international internships in entities in the geoscience sector abroad and through that:
GeoInternInternational
Expected Results of the Project
International Network Experience
An increasing international network experience abroad both for students and Staff/peers involved in student supervision.
International Job Market
Competitive students to be attractive for more high-stake positions in the national and international job market.
Career Competence
Increase career competence level among students and scientists within geoscience.
Scientific Skills
Increased transferable and scientific skills level.
Enhance Study Programmes
Increased internship and relevance knowledge across the learning communities nationally and internationally. The goals, measures and expected results for the GeoInternInternational project are relevant for the UTFORSK goals of strengthening international partnerships within areas of mutual and strategic interest, in this case between the departments of geosciences in Norway and the involved partner institutions in partner countries. Furthermore, the goals and results will enhance the quality and relevance of study programmes at different institutions. The project will develop systematic models to perform international internships within geoscience.
LABOR MARKET
Needs, assesment and background
The labor market for graduates within the geosciences in Norway has changed dramatically, after a dominance of the petroleum sector for multiple decades. Whereas more than 70% of the graduates were employed in this sector about one decade ago, this sector employs 10-15% at present. Given the dominance of the national petroleum industry on the Norwegian labor marked, creating a systematic awareness of work-related experience in an international context during university studies was unnecessary and had been neglected.
In addition to the changes in the labor market, the Norwegian authorities request from universities to implement a stronger emphasis on internships and work-related experience in the education, and to put these into an international context. In light of these changes and requests, the proposed GeoInternInternational project is a timely initiative that will be of great benefit for our students.
Work plan and timeline
The activities in this project include:
- project establishment.
- exchange agreements with partner onboarding.
- exchange of students bilaterally.
- continuous surveillance and quality control.
- administrative tasks regarding student mobility.
- contact routines during exchange.
- continuous educational research, following the didactic evolution of the project.
One of the first steps was to formally establish the network of all partners in form of a digital startup seminar. This seminar was held 3. May 2023.
Overarching goals, as well as plans for management and performance will be presented and shared to achieve a common understanding of the detailed project progress and deliverables. Given the diversity of cultures involved in this project, we will also ensure a common understanding of relevant matters through a two-way communication and regular meetings with individual partners.
The first exchange focused on internships of students from Norway abroad. Our partner University in Manitoba, Canada, provided relevant opportunities for internship during Q1 2023, and the first students performed their internships during the summer of 2023. During 2024 GeoInterInternational had the first international students coming to Norway for their internships.
We plan to exchange 10 students each of the project years – 5 Norwegian students and 5 international students each year.
