Students' reports on Work Placement:

What is placement?

Placement is a one-year internship which our undergraduate students do in the third year, most of the time at multinational companies. After two years of studies the students work for a year and then come back to IBS, where in the fourth year they study again, and write a dissertation.

Does IBS or the student look for internship places?

Searching for and finding a professional placement position is the task of the student; however, IBS can and does offer effective assistance. Our career office is linked to about 300 companies, and these companies are committed to accepting our students. It is common for our alumni who graduated a few years ago to offer positions to present IBS students because by now they have achieved high positions.

How can I be sure that I will choose the most appropriate placement position?

Students entering IBS are required to take a so-called Captain test, and by completing this test, they get a picture of their abilities and skills, all of this in the context of how they imagine their future field. By processing the results we can jointly form the strategy that needs to be followed by students in their planned career.

Prior to the placement period we offer training, career counseling, resume and cover letter writing exercises to help students who apply to the many positions offered partly by IBS and partly by other companies that students contact through their search.  

In the last 20 years experience has shown that our students have a significant competitive advantage in the labor market, mainly due to their superior language skills, but also their IT, teamwork, presentation and other skills as well.

Is there a relationship between the student and IBS during the internship?

Of course there is. Our students have to contact their work placement consultant (tutor) at specified intervals every semester and must complete a placement report.

Why is placement so useful?

The placement is designed for our students to put to practice in real working situations what they have learned in theory. Both for the student and the employer this is a very advantageous situation because they know the placement lasts for one year, after which they can continue their cooperation without any problems, or they can go their separate ways. It is also very common for students graduating from IBS to receive  a job at their placement company, meaning that most students on our four-year programmes graduate with a stable position already waiting for them.

It is equally important that the students who "come back" to IBS from their work placement are quite different from those in the second-year: they are more motivated, more conscientious, with well-defined expectations, so their specialty choice in the fourth year is based on a thorough and comprehensive decision. 

Most importantly, students graduating from IBS are not start-up graduates in the field of work, since they have at least one year work experience. It is no wonder that 77% of our graduates occupy a job within three months of their graduation, with a very good salary, and in a field which matches their qualifications and interests.