UNIWORK’s 4^th and final Training Module ,“Career Centres and Students: Job Preparation Training & Internships”, took place from September 29^th to October 2^nd Khujand, Tajikistan. The event was hosted by Khujand Polytechnical Institute of Tajik Technical University (KPITTU), with trainers Sara Pates from the University of Sheffield Enterprise (United Kingdom), Victor Climent and Cristina Beans from University of Alicante (Spain) and Birgit Burböck and Rene Wenzel from FH Joanneum (Austria), and participants from all the UNIWORK partner Career Centres.

The Training Module was inaugurated by Dr. Dilafruz Sanginova, the director of KPITTU (3rd from the left in photo on the left), who also showed the UNIWORK partners around KPITTU’s Career Centre and Technopark.

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The objective of this module was to focus on services offered by Career Centres to improve students’ chances at finding quality employment, with a strong focus on developing students’ soft skills and helping them obtain meaningful internships. The EU trainers and participants from Central Asian partners BAFE, KPITTU, NEU, TSIEM and KokSU shared their knowledge and experience in a series of interactive presentations.

Along with the presentations, two practical workshops were included in the Training Module. In the first, guided by Victor Climent from the University of Alicante, the partners from each country worked together to do a SWOT analysis on student internships in their country.

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In the second workshop the colleagues from a same university worked together on the Project Model Canvas, under the guidance of Sara Pates from Sheffield University Enterprise and Cristina Beans from University of Alicante, to prepare new or enhanced services and online courses that their Career Centres will make available to students this coming Fall and Winter.

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As a result of this training module the participants have obtained a better understanding of:

·      Student internships, both paid and non-paid, national or international, and the situation of these in their own countries (SWOT).

·      Soft skills training for students (preparing CVs, job applications and interviews, communication skills).

·      Career counselling for students

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This was the final Training Module for Career Centre staff developed by the UNIWORK Project. A staff member from each Central Asian partner Career Centre will next consolidate the knowledge and skills acquired during these trainings during a practical placement they will do at one of the EU partner Career Centres in October or November.

More information and photos from this event (and others) can be found on our Facebook page.