Simplify the management of internships and internship agreements for students
Managing internships and internship agreements is a major challenge for higher education institutions, which face a large volume of agreements to process and time-consuming administrative complexity. Go Paperless and simplifying these processes has become essential to increasing efficiency, reducing the risk of errors, and improving the experience for students and all stakeholders. This article presents the advantages of digitisation and best practices to implement, from technological solutions to internal organizational changes, for streamlined and secure internship management.
Summary :
1- Challenges of managing internships in higher education
2- Technological solutions to simplify the process
3- Good organizational practices
Challenges of managing internships in higher education
Large volume of agreements to process
Each year, higher education institutions face an increasing number of internship agreements to manage. In 2020, an average of 500 agreements were processed per institution.
In 2022, this figure jumped to an average of 750 agreements per year, representing a 50% increase in just two years. This upward trend is expected to continue in the coming years, with forecasts reaching 1,000 agreements per year per institution by 2025.
Administrative complexity for students and services
Manual procedures for managing internship agreements generate a significant workload for the administrative departments of institutions. Verifying entered information, collecting signatures, and archiving paper documents are all repetitive and time-consuming tasks for the teams.
Students are also impacted by these complex processes. They have to juggle different contacts, fill out multiple forms, and ensure their agreement is processed correctly. Frequent back-and-forth communication is necessary to correct errors or obtain missing signatures, lengthening processing times.
This administrative burden represents a loss of time and efficiency for all stakeholders. Departments struggle to keep up with the increasing volume of agreements to be processed each year, to the detriment of higher value-added activities such as supporting students in their internship search.
Legal risks in case of errors
Poor management of internship agreements can have serious legal consequences for the institution. Failure to comply with regulations exposes the university to criminal penalties such as fines, or even legal proceedings.
To avoid these risks, it is essential to implement rigorous procedures for monitoring internship agreements. This includes training administrative and teaching staff on the legal aspects of internships. Regularly checking compliance with the terms of the agreements, such as the duration of the internship or the amount of compensation, will also help prevent potential disputes.
Technological solutions to simplify the process
paperless management platforms for agreements
paperless internship agreement management platforms centralize the entire process in a single, user-friendly tool. They integrate online forms tailored to each institution for easy entry of agreement information.
Once completed, the agreement follows a validation workflow involving all stakeholders: student, school tutor, and company tutor. Each party can review and electronically sign the document, which significantly speeds up the process.
No more lost paper agreements! Everything is tracked in real time with alerts in case of delays. Agreements are finalized much faster, ensuring internships start on time.
By centralizing contract data, these platforms also constitute a valuable knowledge base. They allow for the extraction of statistics and the automatic generation of supporting documents such as internship certificates. This represents a significant time saving for administrative departments.
Electronic signature of agreements
Manually signing internship agreements can be laborious and time-consuming. Between sending documents by mail, back-and-forth exchanges for corrections, and collecting signatures from all parties, the process lengthens, delaying the start of the internship.
Electronic signatures offer an effective solution to this problem. In just a few clicks, each signatory can securely affix their signature from anywhere. There's no longer any need to print, scan, or send paper documents. The entire process is paperless and faster.
Integration with the institutions' information systems
Interconnecting the agreement management platform with the information systems of schools and universities greatly simplifies processes. There's no longer any need to re-enter student or partner company data. Everything is synchronized automatically.
The integration streamlines information sharing between the various departments involved in monitoring internships. The student services department, academic advisors, and the career center work from a centralized and up-to-date database. This eliminates errors and wasted time associated with exchanging files or emails.
Good organizational practices
Centralization of internship monitoring
The decentralized management of internships by each department or service can quickly become a headache, leading to a loss of overall visibility and tedious follow-up. Overlapping internships, missing documents, agreements signed at the last minute... these are all recurring problems.
A centralized service streamlines and standardizes internship monitoring. Serving as a single point of contact for students and companies, it simplifies administrative procedures. Data centralization also greatly facilitates reporting and the management of internship policies at the institutional level.
Standardization of convention models
The variety of documents used for internships depending on the training program can lead to confusion and errors. Non-standard agreements with different clauses from one component to another complicate monitoring for central services.
Harmonizing internship agreement templates offers numerous advantages. It provides a single, clear document that complies with legislation, regardless of the student's field of study. Companies thus have a single point of contact and a simplified process.
Training for teaching and administrative staff
Deploying a paperless contract management solution requires tailored support for the teams. Beyond the technical aspects of the tool, it is essential to train staff on the new processes and workflows implemented.
This training will facilitate the adoption of the platform and enable users to fully leverage its features. Teams will gain autonomy and efficiency in processing agreements, from creation to signature and archiving. The training will also promote the harmonization of practices across different departments for greater consistency.
With proper training, staff will also be better equipped to support students and businesses in their processes. They will be more likely to answer questions and guide them in using the tool, thus enhancing the quality of service provided. Training is therefore a key lever for optimized management and a successful user experience.
Managing internship agreements is a major challenge for higher education institutions. Go Paperless and simplifying these processes leads to increased efficiency, reduced errors, and an improved experience for all stakeholders. Technological solutions such as centralized management platforms, electronic signatures, and integration with information systems, combined with sound organizational practices, streamline internship management. Choosing these tools means offering optimal service to students and partner companies, as exemplified by the solutions offered by Emundus to simplify applications and admissions.
