Internship Programme of German Business

Are you interested in driving your business growth? We can support you in finding the appropriate talents. Join our Programme and benefit from experienced seniors as well as become an important educator of professional leaders of tomorrow. Increase your visibility and attractiveness as an employer to get a highly qualified, skilled and motivated workforce as future employees of your company.  

Contact details

For more information, please contact

Ms Antje Müller

a.mueller[at]oa-ev.de

Our Internship Programme of German Business offers you the golden opportunity to develop skills necessary for leaders of tomorrow. We offer companies an excellent opportunity to meet and educate highly qualified and motivated young professionals from various backgrounds during an internship in Germany. You train your future employees for your subsidiaries or partners in the Countries of the Western Balkans and Croatia. The training takes place in your headquarters for three to six months in Germany. They gain practical experience and benefit from the intercultural exchange. Our scholarship holders have diverse professional backgrounds in economics, various fields of engineering, IT, commercial law, journalism, biology, chemistry, and agriculture as well as the food industry. Additionally, they have excellent English skills and often speak German to an advanced level.  

By participating in our Internship Programme, your company will benefit from dedicated and well-educated young professionals who are highly motivated to engage and learn about issues and business areas that are of high importance to your company’s strategic development. By participating, you enhance the positive recognition of your company and partners in the region while promoting your efforts to support the youth.

Would you like to take advantage of its regional business network consisting of highly educated German business alumni?

Benefit from the regional alumni network, the diverse knowledge of the region and the latest academic developments. You have the opportunity to promote your business in our growing network of more than 1.000 experienced seniors. The alumni network offers your business access to a pool of highly advanced professionals which been working for many years in their field of expertise. For this reason, when it comes to recruiting highly qualified professionals to work for your branches or partners in the region, the alumni network is an excellent resource. 

Our service for you includes:

    • The promotion of the call for application in seven countries
    • The screening of more than 1.000 applications annually according to the needs of your company
    • The first interviews in the region to check on motivation, language skills and academic background
    • Matching of profiles of potential candidates according to your company needs
    • Organisation of visa, work permit, insurance, accommodation and travel
    • Intercultural trainings, trainings regarding work culture in Germany & enhancing professional skills 
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The final decision on whether to hire a particular candidate lies with the company.  

Participation in the education of the leaders of tomorrow – getting interns on board

Join our Regional Career Centre and make your business grow with our seniors

Our regional alumni network consists of more than 1.000 former scholarship holder who were all professionally trained in Germany.  They all get regularly trained to enhance their professional skills and personal growth. The professional expertise of companies is included in trainings regularly. This very specific B2B has developed in a win-win: Companies promote their companies, their business and their spirit and gain new employees on one hand. On the other hand, they contribute to the lifelong learning of the regional alumni and business network of the Programme. Are you interested in shaping the future of your company? Join our Career Center and benefit from our large and attractive pool of well-educated professionals in the region. 

For more than two decades, the alumni network has nurtured close friendships and successful regional business relationships across borders. The synergies enable an intensive economic exchange and strengthen the cohesion among the partner countries. Therefore, the Programme contributes continuously to the reconciliation of the region. Besides the cooperation and exchange between the alumni themselves, the Career Center offers exciting opportunities to enhance your employability and form the leadership of tomorrow. 

20 Years of the Internship Programme of German Business – Voices of our Partners

Over the past 20 years, more than 260 leading German companies have participated in the Internship Programme of German Business. The Programme has been a regional success story, thanks to the involvement of not only large and medium-sized companies but also small companies and start-ups. 

The enduring and dedicated commitment of numerous German companies is a crucial pillar of the Internship Programme. 

We express our gratitude to all companies for their professional support, personal attention, and financial contribution to the Internship Programme of German Business for the Countries of the Western Balkans. 

Public Private Partnership since 2003

The Internship Programme of German Business for the Counties of the Western Balkans is a flagship project of successful regional cooperation of German Business and the Federal Development Policy. The Internship Programme is for companies that want to support the reconciliation process in the Countries of the Western Balkan. Companies can support the stability by providing training for young professionals to strengthen and stabilise the economy in the region. The duration of the internship will vary between 3 and 6 months. Each intern receives a monthly scholarship from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). 

Your company will provide internship positions and mentoring, as well as providing monthly remuneration to the intern/s. According to the law of minimum wage, German companies participating in the Internship Programme pay the minimum wage to interns depending on the status of interns and the length of the internship. The payment of the minimum wage includes the payment of the insurance and the accommodation (for more information please click here). The cooperation between companies and public institutions for the Internship Programme is unique and makes the Internship Programme special. 

The Internship Programme of German Business was established after the assassination of the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Serbia, Dr. Zoran Djindjic, in 2003. The German Eastern Business Association (OA) together with the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) commonly initiated the Programme.  It has been a lighthouse project of German development policy and German Business ever since. The Internship Programme of German Business imparts skills, strengthens economic cooperation between the Countries in the region and Germany, and aims to foster connection between the youth in the region to build bridges between the countries to support reconciliation. By providing internships for young professionals from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia in Germany – on neutral grounds – they have the opportunity to break stereotypes and create friendships for life no matter where they come from. These strong bonds keep growing in the various life-long learning activities of the regional alumni network. By doing so, the Internship Programme of German Business supports reconciliation by nurturing relationships and reducing prejudice which leads to strengthening the economies in the region and following the path of the European Union to bring peace to its member states through economic, political, and societal development.  

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