Fundación EDPNews

Today 138 university students, 65 of them from the University of Oviedo, finish their training at energy company EDP, along with acknowledgement of their completion of the Martín González del Valle 2020-2021 grants. At a 100% digital event staged via Facebook Live for the second year running, students who had completed their internships received a diploma and thanks for their toil, passion, team work, and most especially for their ability to adapt.

This year all teaching was in telematic format, which entailed a challenge for both the students and the tutors, their guides in the daily round at the company. In recent months, however, when numbers of those affected by COVID-19 began to fall, some interns voluntarily decided to return sporadically to their work centre, duly observing all the prevention measures introduced to create a safe environment.

The 37th round of the grants featured 65 alumni studying 25 specialist subjects at the University of Oviedo, including Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, Economics, Law and Trade and Marketing. They were at their computer screens for a digital event attended by the University of Oviedo's Student Vice-Chancellor Alfonso Joaquín López Muñiz and EDP Foundation's Executive Director, Vanda Martins, who were at pains to point out the interns' ability to adapt to such exceptional circumstances.

The Martín González del Valle Programme is the University of Oviedo's leading grants scheme, with almost 700,000 euros in funds. In the very first experience of employment for some of them, and a vital test for their introduction to the world of business, students complete up to 800 hours of paid training at EDP. They also take part in innovation and continuous improvement schemes, where they contribute their ideas and pool experiences with other students.

The grants seek to facilitate practicums at EDP for students at the University of Oviedo and other Spanish universities. Since its launch in 1983, more than 100 people who took part in the programme have joined the EDP Group workforce in Spain.