The alliance with new companies and institutions in the maritime sector will make it easier this year for all students enrolled in the Specialist Course in Innovation, Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship around the Sea, Icemar, to carry out curricular internships in companies in the sector, which, according to the organizers, will allow them to both facilitate their entry into the world of work and get to know first-hand the main Galician companies related to this sector. Classes start next Thursday the 16th, although interested people still have until this weekend to register.
“The activity not only allows students to complete their university curriculum in disciplines that facilitate their insertion in one of the many sectors that develop around the sea, but also provides methodologies and tools to help them actively plan the achievement of their professional objectives, allowing them to identify interests, skills, values and personal characteristics that improve their employability,” explains the director, professor of the Department of Ecology and Animal Biology, Maruxa Álvarez, who also explains that one of her greatest hopes is that this training program not only adds value to the students who participate in it, but that all collaborating companies benefit in some way.
“The sea is one of the main strategic sectors of Galicia”
“The sea is one of the main strategic sectors of Galicia, a region that is a global power and a benchmark in key activities that boost the market based on innovation and the know-how of companies that develop their economic activity around the sea”, explains the course director. Directly or indirectly, many of Vigo’s economic activities depend on the sea, such as the fishing sector, the food sector, or others such as transport, tourism or sports, but, from her point of view, “in our city we hardly know the potential that the sea offers for the professional development of students”, adds the teacher, who also points out that in the course they constantly repeat that “in Vigo we live on the coast, but with our backs to the sea”, in the sense that despite the great deal of economic activity that depends on the sea “the potential that it offers for the professional development of students is hardly known”.
More than 200 hours of curricular internships in companies
The six-month course is aimed at both final-year students and graduates from UVigo or professionals related to or with an interest in the field of the blue economy, an area that recognizes the importance of the seas and oceans as main drivers due to their great potential for innovation and growth.
The activity has 425 hours of theoretical and practical training, which are divided between training workshops, outdoor activities, visits to institutions and companies related to the maritime sector, visits to fairs, etc. In addition, this year there is a novelty, the incorporation of 205 hours of curricular internships that will be carried out in companies and institutions of interest to the students. “Today we have established agreements with many companies and entities and we expect that throughout the course the number of collaborating companies will increase, meeting the demand of the students themselves”, mentions the organizer.
“Students who participated in previous editions highlight that the greatest contributions of the course were obtained on two levels. On a personal level, it helped them to get to know themselves better, to set professional goals and to know how to establish a roadmap to achieve them. On a professional level, it gave them a complete vision of the sectors that develop around the sea”, explains the coordinator.
Source: DUVI
