Central Europe Review works with university students from all parts of the world through our Virtual Internship Programme. All you need is access to a computer and a desire to learn about Central and Eastern Europe and Web publishing.

We are always seeking ambitious interns, and we view our interns as committed partners in our quest to bring up-to-date news and unique analysis from Central Europe to the entire world. In that partnership, CER sees the role of our interns to be two-fold.

On the one hand, interns provide Central Europe Review with the drive, energy and manpower to tackle tasks that would normally take our small organisation weeks to accomplish. These tasks include readership drives, establishing link exchanges, Internet site registration, HTML mark-up of articles, proof-reading, fact-checking, link support for articles, link checking, graphic work and design. As you can see, the tasks our interns work on vary a great deal.

In return for these efforts, Central Europe Review endeavors to teach interns as much as possible about journalism, Web publishing and, of course, the politics, societies and cultures of Central and Eastern Europe. We do this by teaming a new intern with the CER staff member who best suits their interests

For example, if the newcomer is fascinated by all things Polish, we would assign her the task of assisting our Poland Editor with proof-reading, fact-checking and commissioning new contributions. Our Poland Editor would act as a mentor and help her learn about the subject she is most interested in. An intern wanting to learn about Web publishing would be instructed in HTML (the language of Web pages) and the ins and outs of getting articles to look right on the Web.

We do also have some rather more mundane tasks that everyone needs to help out on, but we make every effort to tailor our internships to the individual interests of each intern and get him or her working closely with someone who knows the ropes.

In addition, we also help our interns establish contacts in the region to help them with their studies and, ultimately, their careers. With an extensive network of journalists, academics and business people in the region, CER is well placed to offer such help.

CER's Virtual Internship Programme is global: our interns, like our correspondents, are everywhere. Interns take part in CER activities primarily through e-mail, sending their work and learning from their mentor electronically no matter where the mentor and the intern are. Eventually, most interns meet their mentors face-to-face, but the vast majority of the time, we communicate virtually; the need for CER interns to be self-motivating is obvious.

If you are interested in becoming a CER intern, please contact Alina Ghimpu-Hague, CER's Development Co-ordinator, and tell her a little about yourself, your interests, your language skills, your experience and what you hope to gain from the CER Virtual Internship Programme.

We look forward to hearing from you.