UNEVOC Connect

Internships are shorter than apprenticeships. Durations for internships usually vary between four weeks and six months, while apprenticeships usually vary between one and four years, depending on the trade. Internships cover a limited set of skills relevant for an occupation. Apprenticeships, by contrast, aim to impart all skills needed to master a trade, which explains the longer duration. ...

Interns usually acquire their main knowledge and skills at a training centre or a university, and only learn supplementary skills through an internship. Internships for job re-entrants at mid-career level provide practical experience to re-enter the labour market; prior experience in the trade is required.

The position of being an intern (student or a TVET Institution’s graduate undergoing supervised practical training) or the period during which a person is an intern.

(also: traineeship Internships and traineeships provide young people, who have finished their studies or are still studying, with an opportunity to learn in a workplace - usually covering specific aspects of a job or an occupation, but not all skills needed for it – while working in a particular sector of the economy or in a specific occupation. Typically these programs also don’t follow a curriculum or lead to qualifications based on an assessment of skills, but with internships and traineeships in particular, the differences between the two depend significantly on how the stakeholders in a particular country define them.