Internship contract

A contract between two parties is not an internship contract. If you, as a former student, have an internship contract with an internship institution and there is no educational institution involved you don't have a work placement contract. Often, you'll receive an expense allowance and formally you're a volunteer.

Read the contract carefully and check whether it clearly defines the rights and obligations of all three parties. Note the following points:

1. Activities
   What will my activities be; are these interesting and/or instructive enough for me?
2. Guidance
   Is there enough guidance offered from the work placement organisation and the educational institution? Who is supervising you?
3. Review
   Who is reviewing, when, how and for how many credits?
4. Insurances
   Is the work placement organisation well insured:
   - for damage caused to others by yourself? Your own liability does not cover such damage. The financial amounts can be high.
   - for damage caused to me by others
   Occasionally the education institution takes these obligations if the work placement organisation is a self-employed person.
5. Dates and hours
   Dates of the beginning and end of the internship, holidays, hours, (travel) expenses, obligations during illness, secrecy
6. Financial compensation
   Agreements on expenses and travel expenses
7. Confidentiality (possibly)
8. Special circumstances
   Under which special circumstances may or can I stop? Who can I dicuss this with?

There are differences between an internship contract and an employment contract. The most important ones are:

• the internship organisation does not pay a salary. Often you do receive an internship fee, but this is not required by law unless otherwise specified in the collective labour agreement of the internship organisation.
• the student cannot be fired. However, the contract can be dissolved. 
• the student doesn’t build up entitlement to employers insurances such as WW and WIA.

However, it sometimes happens that the internship organisation does pay the student a salary (agreeing on a gross amount, of which a net amount is paid). That means that your work placement contract is also an employment contract.