The objectives of practical training

Please note! There are separate pages for Clinical training in the field of Health care and social services. See it here.

Practical training is a part of bachelor studies. Practical training means learning in working life and familiarizing with tasks of your professional field in a real working environment. A successful choice of training job may have a great influence on your future. Often the first real job after graduation opens through practical training.

Practical training aims at increasing your professional competences and working life skills. The practical training aims for effecting rise-led career development from performance tasks to planning tasks and expert and supervisory duties. Goal-oriented and well-planned practical training scheduled among theory studies will also increase motivation for studying.

Practical training is an opportunity to combine theory and practice, apply and test your theoretical learning in practice as well as evaluate your own competences and develop yourself. The ability to evaluate own competences is important in working life nowadays when the employee must be able to work autonomously.

The scope of the practical training varies depending on the field of study. Practical training in Business, Tourism and Hospitality, Design and Fine arts and Technology education consists of 30 ECTS credits. This equals 20 weeks of work related to your study. The practical training can also be completed in parts.  Before accepting a training place, always contact your training coordinator and discuss with him/her of the content, objectives and timetable. Your practical training can be paid or unpaid.

The learning outcomes of practical training

Student is able to

• describe various phenomena of work and utilize the basic concepts concerning work
• work effectively according to practices at work community and ethical principles of own professional field
• utilize the techniques, working methods, models and processes learned
• work customer-oriented in interaction situations and with partners of the work organisation
• estimate and develop own competences in relation to the work done at the work place

How to find a practice job? Will I get paid?

It's students responsibility to find a practice job. There will also be training announcements in different channels in your own faculty. More detailed information on practical training is given by the responsible teachers of practical training.

The practical training can be carried out in companies, public sector organisations or other organisations either in Finland or abroad. Case-by-case it is also acceptable to work as an entrepreneur when the contents and reporting of the practical training must be agreed beforehand with the responsible teacher of practical training.

Your practical training can be paid or unpaid. If you work as a paid trainee, you will agree the wage with your employer. You will also enter an employment contract and the agreement for traineeship is not necessary then.

If you do unpaid training an agreement for traineeship is made between you, LAB UAS and the practical training job. It is possible to get financial aid to students from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (KELA), contact Kela to ask more about it. During the training, the insurance offered by LAB is valid.

Note that for placement abroad you might be able to get grant from LAB. To validate your LAB insurances abroad, you need to inform your placement abroad to International Services. Further information on placement abroad.

Career Services for Students

Career services help students both in the practical job search process and in finding one’s own career path. You will find further information about the services at Career services -webpages.

Prepare a plan of the practical training

A plan of practical training needs to be done according the instructions given by your own faculty.

Remember to do these things before accepting the practical training place

• Always contact your training coordinator before accepting a training place.
• The contract has to be done and signed (student, training coordinator and employer) before the training begins. Ask the contract from your training coordinator.

At the end of the practical training period

After the training you will report (written, visually, video recording) on training you have completed. The report is a summary of completed training and is made separately for each training relationship. The training report demonstrates familiarity with the training place and the tasks during the training, and analyzes one's own learning and learning process. A report will be done according the instructions given by your own faculty. Accepted training is evaluated as “Accepted” in Peppi.

Practical training instructions by faculties

Placement International Business, Lappeenranta: Moodle link
Placement Technology,  Lappeenranta: Moodle link
Placement Business Information Technology, Lahti: Moodel link 

Contact your practical training coordinator in order to get more detailed instructions.