Belinda Jaarsma-Knol gives a broad interpretation to her role as ITC's Internship Coordinator.
How did you attain your current position?
"I have been working at the UT since 1994. Before joining ITC, I worked at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, or EEMCS for short. Coordinating internships was my job there as well for 14 years, working mostly with Dutch students. One of the reasons why the vacancy at ITC appealed to me is that I have always been very interested in other nationalities and cultures. The fact that I would be guiding and coaching those international ITC students in finding an internship to match their personal ambitions and plans was something that, I personally felt, would fit me. The need to make students aware of the Dutch working life and explain the rules and regulations that come with an internship was also a nice challenge."
At the time, internships were a new phenomenon at ITC, right?
"Yes, it all started when the Master's programme in Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation was extended from 18 to 24 months. In the new Master's in Spatial Engineering that started in 2018 internships were part of the study programme as well. Previously, internships were not possible at ITC, but evaluations had shown that students did feel that internships would add value to their studies. So the position of internship coordinator at ITC was indeed new when I started, and I was allowed to shape it as I saw fit. To me that was a great challenge, especially because of those international students. I had lots of questions, like is there a market for them in the Netherlands or abroad, and will I be able to accommodate them? My first focus point as internship coordinator was to set up a network to get companies and institutes excited about our interns. Networking is a skill I already had, but I really took it to a new level at ITC. The interaction with organisations, students and academic staff is what I like most."
Didn't you feel like you were being thrown in at the deep end at first?
"Not at all, because in our Education Management team I'm surrounded by wonderful colleagues who really made an effort to show me the ropes. Also, I was given a really great and extensive introduction to ITC. During my first three weeks I got the chance to get to know everyone. Sometimes I got impatient, thinking 'it's time to get started, I have so much to do'. But now I realize that that familiarization period has been extremely useful and is paying off. It taught me how things work at ITC and who I had to turn to for what. I was also happy to discover that ITC has a great worldwide network which our academics have built over many years. It was a great start for me, and I felt very welcome!"
What do you find important in your role as internship coordinator?
"There is no training for the position of internship coordinator. It is mainly a question of certain qualities and skills that one partly already has and partly develops in practice. Compared to my time at EEMCS, I now make more use of my soft skills, such as asking questions and listening carefully when I talk to students and organizations, to determine whether a particular internship would be a good choice. I also try to make students think about themselves and their personal ambitions and vision for the future. Coaching is important too, as despite their excellent qualities, our international students are often rather modest and insecure. They should be a bit more confident about themselves, because we have many excellent students who carry out great internships. In the feedback I receive from internship organizations they speak very highly of the performance of our students."
How do you see your own development towards the future?
"An internship does not stand alone; it can be a springboard to a career. That is why I keep following students after they graduate, trying to help them on their way and look good to potential employers. My recently acquired membership of the UT working group for Employability for International Students has allowed me to focus more on this theme, and I aim to keep doing so in the next five years. It will entail a nice broadening of my position. Mind you, that does not mean that I will be doing something completely different in five years. I enjoy my current job as internship coordinator way too much for that.