University students will carry out social internships in Mides programs
The Ministry of Social Development (Mides) and the University of Montevideo signed an agreement, this Thursday, the 9th, for students from Business Sciences, Economics, Engineering, Technology and Psychology to carry out internships in programs of that portfolio. The objective is for them to complement their professional training and provide experience in different fields, highlighted the head of the Secretary of State, Martín Lema.
The activity took place in the Mides assembly hall, with the presence of the undersecretary of the portfolio, Andrea Brugman; the national director of Social Protection, Fernanda Auersperg; the interim rector of the University of Montevideo (UM), Enrique Etchevarren; the director of the Bachelor of Business, Carolina Chifflet, and the general administrator of the house of studies, Diego Moreira.
In his speech, Lema highlighted the social commitment of the UM and explained that the ministry will present to that institution three proposals for social projects per year, in which it will indicate the tasks that the participants must develop. The internship will conclude once the students complete the 20 individual hours and have met the objectives set, she said.
The purpose of the internships is for students, based on their experience and the careers they are studying, to collaborate in improving the tools and opportunities for people in vulnerable situations linked to the different Mides plans, he said. He also expressed that the agreement allows diversifying the responses provided and also expanding the offer of training courses to the participants to generate more job opportunities.
He explained that in 2023 the programs in which interns will work will be Housing with Support, Women with Children and Disability. In the case of the first two, the goal is for students to be trained in financial and business management to achieve greater autonomy for the participants, “one of the priority objectives of the portfolio,” she specified. Regarding the third, Disability, he explained that the National Center for Technical and Technological Aids (Cenatt) will receive advice and training from the UM Engineering Area to improve efficiency in prosthetics.
Etchevarren, meanwhile, stated that social internships are part of the UM’s academic curricular program, which establishes that they are mandatory practices for the training of students. He thanked the opportunities that this type of agreement offers his institution and added that contact with reality and help to the most vulnerable sectors are tasks of the first order.
