New Internship & Educational Travel Website Launched

Irish Education Partners (IEP) today announced the launch of a vibrant new website to showcase our internship services, and improve communications with our business partners, host organisations and host families.

"With hundreds of creative young people passing through our offices, we had no shortage of feedback and suggestions for this website upgrade" notes Debbie Flynn, Managing Director of IEP.

The website has comprehensive information for:

:: host organisations

:: universities and international internship agencies

:: interns

:: host families

Powered by the Webmedia content management system (CMS), the website will be updated regularly with:

:: success stories from our interns

:: featured internship positions

:: tips and case studies from host organisations

The website also features an extranet for providing detailed information for international business partners.

Interns: Ambassadors for Ireland

The enthusiastic young people who come to Ireland on internship programmes not only contribute to our tourism sector during their stay, they become outspoken ambassadors for our country on their return home.

The individuals who participate in our internship programmes are typically young, educated and outward-looking. They generally stay between two and six months in Ireland, and during that time they usually take the opportunity to visit the whole country as tourists. They are often joined by family and friends from their country of origin during these trips.

A recent group of interns supporting Guinness

So, internship programmes make a positive contribution to the tourism sector in Ireland.

Much more interesting, however, is that having lived here, these young people are perceived as experts on Ireland by their friends, family and acquaintances. In overwhelming numbers, they also have huge affection for our country and culture, and they return time and again to Ireland throughout their lives, this time bringing others and spending more on accommodation, restaurants and so on.

Creative Interns Redesign Hostel

One of our host organisations, Abigail's Hostel in Dublin city centre, converted from a hotel to a hostel earlier this year, and is now planning to revamp the interior. Dan, an interior design intern from the UK, grabbed this project and researched, planned, measured, sketched and created the following design proposal for the business owners:


Dan also proposed creative redesigns for the other two hostels in the AAA Group, preparing similar 3D presentations using software he selected, Google Sketch-Up.

As Dan's internship placement came to a close, he prepared his files, software and research to hand over to Alice, a textile design graduate, also from the UK. Alice continued with the project, visiting hostels virtually and in person, researching materials and obtaining samples, refining the details to produce mood boards, budgets and options for the project.

Sample mood board, which was backed up with costs, samples, providers and so on

A win-win situation for all involved, Dan and Alice got to apply their knowledge and improve their professional skills in a real and worthwhile project, while the host organisation gained a quirky, innovative interior design, based on thorough research, and ready to implement.

Star Intern Creates Web 2.0 Content

A great example of how interns can contribute to their host companies is the video produced for our company by Veronica, an intern from Spain.

We were keen to include interactive Web 2.0 content in our marketing strategy (hence this blog...) and asked Veronica to conduct some online research in this area, in particular video sharing e.g. YouTube.

Veronica worked on ideas for content, based on our criteria of capturing the experience of her group in Ireland, and conveying for our business partners and potential future internship candidates the experience of an internship in Ireland:



With a little support and guidance, Veronica researched and selected free video editing software VideoSpin, created and compiled content and uploaded the video to YouTube. On her own initiative, she set up an MSN mailing group and Picasa account to facilitate image sharing and communication with her group.

Veronica is typical of the type of individual participating in the Irish Education Partners internship programmes in that Internet technologies, and in particular Web 2.0, are second nature. As such, they represent a great opportunity for host companies to test the (generally free) Web 2.0 waters to see how they may be exploited to promote their businesses.

It doesn't usually rain this much.... honest!

Since a group of 50 internship participants arrived in Dublin from Spain in early August, the weather has been terrible.

The record rainfall, according to the Irish Met Office, is:
* 177.7 millimeters of rain in the first 17 days of August, more than double the August average
* on Saturday August 9th, a record 76.2 millimeters of rain fell on Dublin, the second highest daily rate of rainfall in any month since records began

Of course, the interns did not expect the current 35 degree heat and sunshine of Madrid, but we feel terrible for them enduring these conditions.

They are keeping spirits high, however, and have spent time visiting Trinity College and Temple Bar, with plans to travel to Belfast and the Giant's Causeway this weekend, as well as dropping in on the wonderful Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire.

We hope the rain stays mainly on the plain in Spain for the next two weeks so our Spanish visitors get a break.... at least this explains why our countryside is so green and lush!