As far as an internship in Italy might be concerned, alas and alack, I see
more difficulties than possibilities from a practical point-of-view.
First of all, someone wanting to do a "stage," as it is called here, must be
fluent in Italian, both spoken and written.
Second, doing a "stage" in Italy is arranged through one's university, so
that insurance in the host institution is covered not at the institution's
expense.
Third, this also means that someone in the museum must be dedicated to
watching over the intern, and giving judgments on personal and work
behavior, which is time consuming.
Fourth, internships here also generally are too short (around 3 months) to
be of any real help to the institution, and often are quite a lot of bother
for very little return.
Fifth, given that the intern dedicates only about three months of time to
the institution--not enough time for the institution to have sufficient
faith in the intern personally and professionally to entrust sensitive
information--it also is quite difficult to find something for them to do,
except "grunt" work.
Sixth, given the situation, the intern does not have enough time to really
learn to assist the museum in sensitive and creative ways, even if it were
possible to trust them to do it, and their learning goals probably are quite
different than the museum's even most hopeful goals for their participation
(if you're interested in this kind of potential fiasco, ask me about the
Bocconi students, who did a fund-raising information search for us a few
years ago).
Seventh, interns want, of course, to be involved immediately in the creative
and important phases of museum work, and don't want to do the "grunt" work,
which, after all, is an unfortunately large part of the real work in any
office (something else they need to learn). Do they learn anything from
making photocopies, or running errands? Not much, but, given the situation,
that's often what our museum needs from them, so our interests conflict.
Eighth, internships in Italy are *completely* unpaid. No stipend, no bus
tickets, no lunch coupons, though the intern might be able to get a cup of
coffee in the office for free ;-> .
Ninth, coming from a European Union country would mean not having to have an
entry visa. Coming from a non-European Union country would mean needing an
entry visa and a "permesso di soggiorno" (a kind of "green card"), which
creates all sorts of bureaucratic problems that the hosting institution is
(most probably) not willing to face; certainly no costs for this would be
sustained by the host institution. I don't know what kind of "permesso di
soggiorno" one would need, or be able to get, for a non-university-related
internship (if at all), but I do know that, for a regular work permit, one
must have a job before being granted the permit, but--to avoid the
bureaucratic nightmare--companies usually require the petitioner to have the
permit before granting them a job ;-> .
Tenth, there are lots of locals wanting to do internships, and those locals
may/probably have "Old Boy System" backing from their professors, who quite
possibly were the professors of the museum directors to which the local
interns direct their internship requests, or, if not their professors,
certainly colleagues able to participate in the local "give and take."
Ten seems a nice, round and "significant" number at which to stop my
observations on the Italian situation.
Anyone have similar, or dissimilar, experiences in Italy and elsewhere?
Looking forward to hearing about it, bye for now,
Star Meyer, Ph.D.
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Bagatti Valsecchi Museum - Milan, Italy
http://www.museobagattivalsecchi.org
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