Danish student cuts internship short following ‘mouldy’ apartment offer

Walls covered in mould, dirty bed linen, the fridge's rubber lining engulfed with mould, rusty appliances, a non-functioning TV and telephone set, and last but not least an oven containing food remnants, is what a Danish student on a three-week internship claims to have been offered by independent-run Paragon Ltd aka Paragon Europe, to reside in.

Following her trip last month, the student, Eva Kirkegaard, also wrote a blog and uploaded pictures of the above-mentioned mishaps she encountered while on her internship, cutting her visit short to six days. Her blog, entitled My Trip To Malta, can be viewed on http://www.suptech.dk/f/malta/.

She also sent an e-mail exclusively to MaltaToday to have the matter investigated. "I never finished my internship because the company in charge, Paragon Europe, didn't deliver what it had promised," the student wrote in her e-mail to this newspaper.

The Danish student claims to have visited Malta along with two other students.

When contacted by MaltaToday, Paul Busuttil, general manager of Paragon Ltd, was shocked to hear about the blog and the complaints put forward by the students.

Busuttil acknowledged the student's claims, stating that they weren't unfounded, however Busuttil was quick to say that an alternative apartment was immediately offered to the students in question but despite the offer - made during a welcome meeting with the students - two of the three students remained highly critical.

"One of the students, who was the most mature out of the lot, remained in Malta and only had positive comments to share about Paragon. Let's face it, students cannot expect 5-star accommodation either," Busuttil added.

Paragon Europe is a Maltese company providing a variety of services geared towards the development of knowledge economy tools and business services to both local and foreign clients. One of the services offered is that of assisting foreign students conducting an internship here, promising the works.

Paragon, through its promotional webpage, states that it offers students willing to spend their internship in Malta assistance by securing accommodation, transport, and a temporary job experience for them.

But on the other hand, following her visit, the student - who felt deceived - described Paragon Europe as "nothing but a company which systematically exploits students and the EU for their money, offering students the works but on the contrary, the students end up living in harmful environments".

When contacted by MaltaToday, the student denied ever being given an alternative apartment by Paragon, adding: "At the introduction meeting, we asked to talk to Paragon's managers alone (since there were other students at the meeting), and raised the following points: the apartment was far too cold to live in; it was not clean; there was mould in the fridge; the oven and toaster were in a bad state; the TV and phone did not work.

 "The managers at Paragon told us that they could not do anything about the cold, but only provide a few carpets and blankets and assured us that they would send the cleaning lady over to the apartment the very next day, but that didn't happen.

"Meanwhile, one of the managers came over and fixed the TV and the phone but never offered us an alternative.

"On the second day, we found out the window could open from the outside, and that there was mould on the walls and on the bed linen. It is true that, as Paragon states, we were being highly critical.

"We had learned that Paragon were not trustworthy. The question I kept asking myself was: how can a company be trustworthy if they let students live under such conditions over and over again?

"I personally suffer from anxiety, and I followed my instinct: to go back home (to Denmark) at once," Kirkegaard said.

Two of the students - including Kirkegaard - never finished their internship because they stated that the company in charge, Paragon Europe, "didn't deliver what it had promised".

Kirkegaard added: "It is true that one of the students remained in Malta. He stayed with a friend and Paragon found him a better place to live in later on in the week. The student who stayed told me that if he didn't have a friend in Malta he could stay with, he would have gone back home too."

On arriving back home (Denmark), Kirkegaard and her fellow student were punished by the school for abandoning their internship in Malta.

Busuttil said that Paragon's shortcomings were purely incidental and not due to carelessness or inefficiency, and the students had created a storm in a teacup.

"We immediately addressed these shortcomings by sending a cleaner within a day of learning about the complaint as the cleaner had fallen ill a day before the students' arrival.

"With regard to the issue of alternative accommodation, the students' claims are unfair because we did indeed take them to view alternative accommodation.

"This accommodation was unoccupied by others and super clean, but two of the students still refused to stay.

"We are disappointed by the students' attitude given that, during their brief stay, we did our utmost to make them feel at home and apologised for our oversight.

"Unfortunately, two students were not prepared for the 'inconveniences' that are normally encountered when living in shared accommodation. Furthermore, the two students failed to attend their work placement in spite of this being their contractual obligation," Busuttil said.

"It's quite evident that the students were home sick but failed to admit and were viewing everything in a bad light," Busuttil added.

Note: MaltaToday's journalist was invited by Paragon last Friday to view the apartment in question, just under a month from the students' visit to Malta. The apartment turned out to be spotless. However, the ceiling of the bathroom was covered in mould.