Students enrolled at an institute of secondary vocational education (MBO), university of applied sciences (HBO) or a research university, can do a work placement at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam as part of their study programme.
A work placement agreement can be entered into with a student who has satisfied a number of conditions.
A work placement agreement can be entered into with a student who has satisfied the following conditions:
The student is generally required to apply for a work placement at VU Amsterdam themselves. The head of department of the VU Amsterdam faculty or service department involved in the work placement will then designate a department employee as the work placement supervisor. This will be done in consultation with the work placement supervisor or programme coordinator of the study programme. The student’s work placement will subsequently take place under the supervision of this work placement supervisor.
The student and the work placement supervisor will draw up a work placement programme. They will do so in consultation with the work placement supervisor or programme coordinator. Once the work placement programme has been established, the student sends a copy of the work placement programme to the service department or faculty where the student is due to complete their work placement. The supervisor ensures inclusion in the electronic personnel file via the self-service option Add document to personnel file.
A work placement agreement is not an employment contract. The Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities therefore does not apply to trainees. A work placement agreement can only be entered into for a specified period. After all, the work placement is performed for a specified period. It is possible to terminate the work placement agreement prematurely.
A work placement agreement is always entered into for 1.0 FTE. The full-time equivalent factor is ordinarily set to 1.0 FTE. It is not possible to lower the full-time equivalent factor for the purpose of paying the work placement pay on a pro rata basis. The work placement agreement may contain agreements on the days that the student is expected to be present and the number of hours per day.
During the onboarding process of a trainee, regardless of whether it is a paid or unpaid work placement, the HR Service Desk will draw up a work placement agreement that must be signed by VU Amsterdam and the trainee. This document outlines the agreements the trainee must abide by during the course of the work placement and after.
In some cases, the educational institution will also draft a work placement agreement. This so-called tripartite work placement agreement (in Dutch only) is then considered an agreement between the Dutch educational institution, the organisation providing the work placement (VU Amsterdam) and the trainee. The agreements outlined in this document generally pertain to the content of the work placement and what has been agreed with the educational institution. When a tripartite work placement agreement has been drawn up, the trainee is responsible for ensuring that this tripartite work placement agreement is included in the electronic personnel file via the self-service option Add document to personnel file.
Please note: if the educational institution draws up its own work placement agreement, then the trainee will also always receive a work placement agreement from the HR Service Desk.
The trainee performs the work placement activities (mandatory or otherwise) as part of the study programme and generally receives credits for these work placement activities. A work placement can be performed with or without work placement pay.
A paid work placement is generally a professional training placement with the goal of acquiring competencies in practice or a graduation work placement in which students are expected to carry out activities more independently. In general, these work placements last at least several months.
Paid trainees do not receive wages (salary) for the work they perform; instead, they receive work placement pay. The work placement pay is a fixed amount and is not adjusted in line with trends. It is not possible to only award a portion of the work placement pay since the full-time equivalent factor for trainees is set to 1.0 FTE. The paid trainee is entered as a paid trainee via the Start onboarding new internal employee self-service option.
The amount of the monthly pay is:
An unpaid work placement is generally an exploratory work placement, also known as an orientation placement, that only lasts a few days or weeks. The unpaid trainee is entered via the Start onboarding new internal employee self-service option. An unpaid trainee is considered external and is given courtesy privileges (type of courtesy privileges: ‘Unpaid trainee’).
The work placement agreement ends on the agreed end date by operation of law. The manager terminates the work placement agreement via the self-service option Offboarding - Resignation request by manager.
The work placement agreement also ends in the event the registration of the trainee at their educational institution is terminated, and in the event that VU Amsterdam, the educational institution, and the trainee, agree to terminate the work placement. The trainee is responsible for initiating the resignation via the self-service option Offboarding - resignation request by employee.
The Collective Labour Agreement contains agreements regarding the facilitation of hybrid working. However, only permanent employees receive allowances for working from home and internet, while on-call employees, student assistants, freelancers, PhD grant recipients without an employment contract, and trainees receive no compensation.
The assumption is that the trainee is a student who already has a student travel product in the form of a weekly travel pass, which obviates any entitlement to the commuting allowance. After all, they already have access to free public transport.
Students with a weekend travel pass, students without a student travel product and students with a weekly travel pass who receive a discount for the summer months (40% for the train and 34% for tram, bus, metro and water bus) are entitled to reimbursement for any essential travel expenses. In such cases, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam reimburses 65% of the actually incurred commuting expenses. Students are responsible for submitting the claims for travel expenses incurred. Claims must include the expense overview of their public transport transactions. This can be retrieved for both the OV chip card and for OV pay (checking in and out with contactless debit card, credit card or mobile).
Example:
If trainees would like to make use of facilities for working from home (such as IT equipment, desk, desk lamp), then they should discuss this with their supervisor.
The trainee may take holiday leave during the work placement in consultation with their supervisor. Of course the trainee has the same collective days off as other VU Amsterdam employees. There is no entitlement to holiday leave, so no holiday leave can be taken in the event the work placement ends or is terminated.
In the case of illness, the trainee should observe the regulations in place at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam regarding illness, and the regulations contained in the Wet verbetering poortwachter (Eligibility for Permanent Incapacity Benefit (Restrictions) Act) regarding reporting sick/recovery and monitoring.
The work placement pay will continue to be paid in the event of occupational disability until the date the work placement agreement ends at the latest.
If the trainee fails to follow the regulations, VU Amsterdam is entitled to withhold all or part of the work placement pay in the event of a paid work placement agreement.
VU Amsterdam ensures that the trainee is insured for accidents and liability during the course of their work placement.
The student is expected to have their own personal liability insurance.
Trainees who are younger than 18 often have health insurance via their parents. Trainees 18 years and older must have their own health insurance on commencing their work placement activities.
Trainees who receive work placement pay are insured in accordance with the Sickness Benefits Act (ZW) and Disablement Assistance Act for Handicapped Young Persons (WAJONG). Premiums are paid for this coverage.
Trainees who receive no work placement pay are insured in accordance with the Disablement Assistance Act for Handicapped Young Persons (WAJONG). No premiums are paid for this coverage.
Trainees are expected to act in a way that is consistent with the objectives of VU Amsterdam and to adhere to the rules and regulations that apply within VU Amsterdam in relation to marketable knowledge and/or intellectual property rights.
International students can also perform work placement activities at VU Amsterdam. Different rules apply to international students, however. See the page Employment of new international staff for more information.
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