The 14 Dutch research universities have adopted a common internship agreement. They arrived at this decision following extensive consultations with student organisations and the private sector, including an online consultation. The internship agreement makes the arrangements between students, universities and internship organisations more straightforward. Pieter Duisenberg, president of Universities of the Netherlands: ‘Thanks to the universal internship agreement, students, the private sector and degree programmes know what they can expect. The agreement sets out clear arrangements on the purpose, supervision and assessment of the internship.’ Today was the day the agreement was made public. All universities will be using it from now on.

The internship agreement details the supervision that the internship organisation and the university will provide and how the internship will be assessed. It also sets out clear arrangements on students’ rights, including their legal status, the way disputes will be handled and the purpose of the internship. 

The internship agreement will remain in use for at least the next three years, after which it will be reviewed. It can be downloaded from the website of Universities of the Netherlands:

UNL internship agreement in Dutch
Explanatory note for the UNL internship agreement in Dutch
UNL internship agreement in English
Explanatory note for the UNL internship agreement in English