Student internship programmes
International parliamentary internship (Internationales Parlaments-Stipendium)
The International parliamentary internship programme gives young people from Latvia an opportunity to take part in the work of MPs’ offices at the German Bundestag and to learn about the work of the parliament, the political decision-making mechanism and public life in Germany.
The rules of the German parliament require Latvian applicants for international parliamentary internship to be Latvian citizens aged up to 30 years with a good command of the German language and a university degree.
The German Bundestag, in cooperation with Humboldt University of Berlin, has been offering International Parliamentary Scholarship programme since 1986. Twenty-nine countries are participating in the programme, including several countries which offer internship opportunities for young people in their own parliaments.
More than 50 students from Latvia have benefitted from the opportunity to undergo in-service training in the German parliament since 1992. In 2010, the Saeima decided to offer the opportunity for German students to get acquainted with the work of the Latvian parliament.
The goal of the International Parliamentary Scholarship is to strengthen partnership and cooperation between Germany and countries represented by participants of the programme. The Scholarship is aimed at highly qualified, active and open youths who are interested in politics and who desire actively and with a high sense of responsibility to shape the political future of their country. The German Bundestag offers a 15-week placement at an office of a member of the Bundestag and thus gives an opportunity to get acquainted with the parliamentary system and political decision-making in Germany, as well as to acquire practical experience in parliamentary work.
In order to apply for the Scholarship, follow the updates on the website of the Embassy of Germany to the Republic of Latvia http://www.riga.diplo.de/Vertretung/riga/lv/Startseite.html.
More information on the Scholarship is available at http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/bundestag/international/exchange/ips/index.html.
As part of this programme, two female students from Germany underwent in-service training at the Saeima for three weeks in the autumn of 2010. They learned about the work of MPs, gathered material for their master’s thesis and, concurrently with the internship, attended lectures offered to foreign students by the University of Latvia.
For more information about the internship of German students in 2010, see:
Video on the internship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpm_n5M2pcI
Photos of the internship: http://www.flickr.com/photos/saeima/5017498636/
