The second meeting of the Working group for the Internships was held on the 8th of October 2021 in the Ministry for Labor, Employment, Veterans, and Social Affairs. The main topic of the meetings was focused on the issues of the quality of internships in the open labor market.

At the meeting, the Draft version of the Ex-ante analysis on the quality framework for internships in Serbia which was developed by the experts from the Faculty of Law, University of Novi Sad was presented. During the presentation, Working group members among who are, besides Government representatives, representatives of trade unions, employer associations, and civil society organizations discussed various dilemmas concerning the area of internships.

Working group members led a constructive discussion in the area of lining up internships with other forms of active labor market measures, as well as lining up internships with legal frameworks of the EU. The European Parliament called for banning unpaid internships.

„EU Parliament condemned the practice of unpaid internships, traineeships, and apprenticeships, which exploit young people’s work and violate their rights. It called on the Commission to table a legal framework for an effective and enforceable ban on these practices.“

There are many positive effects that internships can have. These include reducing the transition from education to the labor market, improvement of knowledge, skills, and competencies, gaining work experience, and exploring career options. Yet, these effects can be expected only if internships meet quality elements. These elements are limited duration, quality mentorship process, setting and monitoring learning goals, financial compensations, a contract at the beginning of the internship, and certificate at the end. According to the review of the recent research results, these quality elements are missing in many internships, which indicates that it is important to regulate them.

In the following period, the Working group will focus on numerous activities towards legal framework which will benefit all young people.

Belgrade Open School has advocated for quality internships since 2015 through different initiatives, promotion events, legal analysis, and research studies. It will continue these efforts in the next period as well. Quality internships are of great importance for the improvement of employability. The legal regulation of internships is an important step in this direction.