Accreditation Procedure

The ELBHO Foundation applies the same procedure as described below for every company that has submitted the request for accreditation as an HigherEd internship company.

Company Accreditation Procedure

  1. After completing the ‘Apply for Accreditation’ form, an employee of the ‘Intake & Planning’-department will contact you within 5 working days to conduct an intake by telephone. During the telephone intake, information is provided about the ELBHO accreditation and together with you we examine whether your organization meets the accreditation conditions. If the organization appears to meet the conditions, a physical audit (company visit) is scheduled.
  2. An Accreditation Advisor (‘Auditor’) of the ELBHO Foundation pays a company visit and carries out an on-site audit. During this visit, the accreditation advisor assesses your company on, among other things:
  • How many employees work at the company?
  • Which employees are able to supervise trainees? Have they followed a training to become an “ELBHO Certified Internship Supervisor for Higher Education”?
  • Does your company have sufficient facilities to allow an intern to carry out an assignment?
  • Has your company supervised (graduation) interns before?
  • Do you offer your (graduation) interns an internship allowance in accordance with the ELBHO® ‘Internship Allowance Guideline’?

For an overview of the conditions imposed on the company and the supervisor, see Accreditation Conditions.
For companies nominated by a college or university [of applied sciences] (so-called accreditation by nomination) for having experience in internship supervision, step 2 (the audit / company visit) can be replaced by a telephone intake.

  1. The accreditation advisor issues an advice for full accreditation (3 years), prospective accreditation (1 year with limits) or not to grant accreditation at all.
  2. The executive board of the ELBHO Foundation decides within five working days on the basis of the advice of the accreditation advisor whether and for which degrees/programs accreditation is granted.
  3. After a positive accreditation decision, your Accredititonal Status will be updated in the ELBHO Company Registry. When your organization has been accredited, you may use the expression ‘ELBHO Accredited Internship Company for Higher Education’ in your communication. You will receive an official certificate after accreditation and you can also use the supplied accreditation seal. You can also post internship vacancies on the website that connects students and accredited internship companies.
  4. We periodically make an inventory on which internship positions are available within your organization. We are an extension of your organization and act as an extended ‘internship department’. We are ready to answer questions about internships, interns, procedures, subsidies, internship agreements and knowledge transfer.
  5. An accreditation is issued for a period of three years (an accreditation as a prospective internship company is valid for 1 year). After that, the company must be validated and accredited again. The company visit (the audit) then takes place again.