Marjo van der Valk-Kuijpers, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven Regional Leonardo Bureau, The Netherlands
Serge Schroef, KATHO University College, Belgium
Kirsten Williamson, Petrus Communications, France
Bruno Woeran, DANUBE European Training, Research & Technology, Austria

Paul Blackmore, Lancaster University, UK

Against the backdrop of increasing globalisation in education and industry, the aim of EMPLOI is to foster and support the concept of international placements in the context of tertiary education. Professionals in the field of international work placements for students and recent graduates of all study disciplines. Types of work placement within the higher-education curriculum A work placement can be:

• an integral and compulsory element of an academic programme;
• a constituent part of a student's final thesis or project;
• an optional element for which a student earns credits;
• a period of training through which recent graduates acquire extra skills and experience prior to entering the job market.

A work placement can be arranged in the context of:

• an exchange programme between two higher education institutions;
• an agreement between a higher education institution and an employer;
• a structured system of cooperation between employers and higher education institutions, as in co-op education;
• international networks such as IAESTE, AISEC, AIPL, Leo-Net, etc
• those strands of the EU LEONARDO/GRUNDTVIG, ERASMUS programme which relate to third level student mobility (currently under remit of the EEPC)

• to provide a forum and network for consultation on matters relating to international student work placements;
• to provide quality assurance guidelines for work placements;
• to facilitate the assessment and evaluation of work placements;
• to clarify the legal status of student-trainees;
• to overcome administrative obstacles e.g. visas, insurance etc;
• to gather and disseminate information on the EAIE countries' national regulations regarding:
  - immigration and other formalities
  - taxation and social security
  - insurance
• to identify resources for developing placements in new fields;
• to improve cooperation between employers and higher education institutions.