🇦🇹 Internship in Austria 🗣️ Traineeships at the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) at the Council of Europe 📚 (€765/month)

The European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML), a body of the Council of Europe based in Graz, Austria, recruits trainees twice a year for a paid six-month training period. The ECML's main role is to serve the implementation of language policies and to promote innovative approaches to the learning and teaching of modern languages. Four specialist areas correspond to four types of traineeship.

About the ECML Traineeship Scheme

The ECML has offered traineeships since 1997. The scheme has proved a highly successful way of developing contacts between the Centre and its member states, recruiting young professionals from all over Europe to join its team for a short period. For many trainees, it represents their first experience of an international organisation, in a plurilingual and multicultural environment (English and French are the Council of Europe working languages, and German is an asset since Graz is a German-speaking city).

The Four Specialisations

Website

Working with the webmaster on the Centre's visual output (no programming experience needed):

🌐 Working with websites: adding and updating information, and learning to develop the various sites of the ECML and its projects

📄 Working on publications and flyers, and learning to lay out and edit documents with InDesign

🗓️ Helping organise the European Day of Languages (celebrated across Europe on 26 September)

📣 Supporting local ECML project activities and contributing to the Centre's communication strategy and promotion

🎓 Profile: graduate or (preferably) postgraduate students; plurilingual (English/French); accurate, flexible and able to work autonomously under guidance. You'll gain experience with Dreamweaver, Fireworks, InDesign and HTML, and with managing a complex, multilingual website

Programme & Logistics

Taking care of the practical aspects of organising workshops and meetings so project teams can focus on the projects:

📋 Liaise with coordinators to fix practical details

✉️ Contact participants and prepare, format, mail and file documents (hotel and travel documents, invitation letters and more)

🤝 Assist teams and participants during workshops and meetings so everything runs smoothly

📊 Assist with follow-up, reporting, online documentation and statistical records for annual reports (basic Excel is enough)

🎯 Requires flexibility, the ability to work under pressure ("le coup de feu"), organisation, thoroughness and comfort with some uncertainty. It offers a real insight into what it takes to run international projects and work in a team

Documentation (CDRC)

Working with the ECML's documentalist at the Communication, Documentation and Resource Centre, mainly serving academic users and professionals in language education:

📚 General tasks for the smooth day-to-day running of the centre and assistance to workshop and meeting participants

📦 Information, documentation and logistics support (individual requests, documentation orders, delivery notes, proforma invoices, diplomatic shipments, packaging and logistics; plus workshop and expert-meeting assistance)

🧭 Presenting ECML resources during guided tours and visits for international groups of experts, students and school groups

💻 ECML website development (updating pages on language education and ECML expertise)

✍️ Editorial work and translations (English↔French e-news items) and library work (cataloguing the John Trim Collection, writing content descriptions, maintaining book-loan records)

🎓 Profile: studies preferably in library, information or communication sciences; very good English or French (a basic second working language is an asset); good organisation and communication skills, motivation, accuracy, flexibility, and the ability to work in a team and independently

Finances & General Administration

Assisting the Head of Administration:

🗄️ Help develop a relational 'Projects' database (linked to the existing mailing database)

💶 Process financial documentation

📑 Photocopying/scanning, classification by budgetary article, registration of mailings and preparation of mailings to Strasbourg

✏️ Corrections and inputting in the ECML mailing database, and entering bank details

🎟️ Prepare workshop documentation (prepaid tickets, hotel reservation forms), reimbursement forms and registration of participants before workshops and meetings

🎓 Profile: graduate or postgraduate students; very good English or French (basic German an asset); accurate and detail-oriented (especially with figures); interested in accounting and administrative tasks; a motivated team player

Who Can Apply

🎓 Hold a bachelor's degree (or equivalent); the scheme is aimed at recent graduates

🌍 Be a citizen or resident of one of the ECML member states (see the official list)

🗣️ A good command of at least one Council of Europe working language (English or French); knowledge of both can make the difference. German is not essential but is an asset

Conditions

💶 A monthly subsistence allowance of about €765, paid by the Council of Europe at the end of each month

🩺 About €20–25 is deducted each month to cover insurance for medical expenses during the traineeship

🗓️ Six months, with two intakes per year (October–March and April–September); a 38h45 working week; 12 days' leave (2 per month); flexible hours with core times of 09:00–12:00 and 14:30–16:30

✈️ Travel costs to and from Graz are not covered by the Centre

🏠 The Centre doesn't provide accommodation but has an agreement with a student residence (a room is currently about €355/month); newcomers can receive financial support to bridge the first month before the allowance arrives

Formalities

📄 Selected trainees receive a formal letter of acceptance (usually sufficient for a visa); non-EU citizens must obtain an Austrian residence permit (Aufenthaltsbewilligung), and on arrival all trainees register their stay via the Meldezettel form, with the ECML's assistance

Life in Graz

🏙️ The ECML is centrally located, a five-minute walk from the heart of Graz, with informal, friendly open-plan offices, a fully equipped kitchen and a rooftop terrace. Graz offers a wide range of culture, events and outdoor activities, with a well-developed public transport network

How to Apply

📝 Apply using the official application form only (do not enclose a CV or other documents at this stage). Describe your language skills according to the CEFR, and specify your first- and second-choice traineeship