Gov’t agencies open their doors to interns

Georgian students will soon be able to intern at Governmental agencies and get a real understanding of the working world.

The new initiative of Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili will see thousands of local undergraduate or newly graduated students intern at various public agencies, with the aim exposing the students to real-life scenarios and allowing them to gain real-world learning.

At a press conference today, Deputy Head of the Government’s Administration Nino Kobakhidze and Head of the Public Service Bureau Ekaterine Kardava gave details of the initiative, and stated interested students could apply for the scheme from next week.

"The internship will enable them to receive professional experience and get to know the principles of how Government agencies work,” Kobakhidze said.

She noted this initiative would also have a positive flow-on effect on domestic employment and create equal opportunities for youth.

The project will be implemented in cooperation with the Public Service Bureau and 18 local universities.

The internship project will be open to undergraduate Bachelor, Masters or Doctoral students whose GPA was not lower than 3.0, and for those who graduated less than two years ago.

As part of the program, twice a year each Government agency will decide how many interns they were able to accommodate. The quota should be not lower than 10 percent of the agency staff.

If a student was unable to gain an internship at an agency that suited their profession due to lack of vacant places, their details will be saved in a special database and will be offered an internship at the next shift.

Students who are interested in applying for the program should upload their CVs to a special database on www.stajireba.gov.ge. This application process will be open from September 15 to September 25.