Abstract:

In a globalized environment, with human capital mobility enhanced, the expansion of human resources skills, the qualification and education of new graduates must be a key concern of the state. Education is the most important bridge to work.

Promoting apprenticeships can make a catalytic contribution to improving the link between education and the labor market and thus, acting as a deterrent to youth unemployment. ERASMUS + Program is an EU–funded action, which finances student mobility for traineeship and studies at Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) or private institutions abroad.

The Department of International Academic Issues & Students’ Exchange of University of West Attica coordinating the biggest Greek Consortium consisted of ten HEIs has proceeded to the assessment of the outcomes of the Action Erasmus+/Placement, investigating the degree of outgoing students’ satisfaction regarding:
- Erasmus+ mobility experience
- Suitability of traineeship in comparison with the studies content
- Academic recognition of traineeship
- Linguistic support and the improvement of linguistic skills
- Accommodation and provided facilities
- Contribution of Erasmus+ grant in the coverage of the total mobility cost
- Degree of achievement of learning outcomes in the work environment and the professional added value acquired through the traineeship abroad
- Personal development and improvement of personal skills (i.e. analytical skills, problem–solving skills etc)

Moreover, motivation factors for training abroad as well as the ways the respondents found their traineeship positions are presented and discussed.

The research sample consisted of 240 students from different Higher Education Institutionsof the Erasmus+ Placement Consortium. Data were collected using the tool of questionnaire called “EU Survey” designed by the European Commission. The questionnaire consisted of different question types like single-question, multiple-choice and matrix-type questions and it was sent by automated e-mail to 240 students who completed successfully their internship period abroad during the academic years 2017-2019.

Data were processed using the computational-statistical software IBM® SPSS® Statistics v25. For the performed statistical tests, the significance level was considered 0.05 (95%), sufficient for this type of analysis. Mainly, the chi-square test and the Spearman correlation were used (due to the nature of the collected data), and the binomial test in certain cases.

According to the findings of this research, over 94% of outgoing students stated that they are overall satisfied with the Erasmus+ mobility experience. The traineeship tasks were compatible with the studies programme and educational profile for 85% of students. The academic recognition of traineeship does not influence the satisfaction of the Erasmus+ mobility. Students claimed also that they saw a dramatic improvement (76,3%) of their linguistic skills and also of other personal skills. Moreover, they supported that did not faced great difficulties during adaptation or social integration, while the accommodation and other provided facilities were adequate. In addition, certain learning outcomes were achieved which are useful in the work environment and gives added value to their acquired profession. Finally, over 60% of students stated that the Erasmus+ grant covers between 50% to 70% of the total mobility cost and that they would not train abroad without receiving Erasmus+ grant.

Keywords:

Job shadowing, on–the–job training, ERASMUS+ placement, learning outcomes, profession added value.