Creating impact through talented young minds
By Sarah Tasker, Placements Officer for College of Social Sciences at the University of Birmingham
Adding value, creating impact and saving money. Student placements can be as beneficial for businesses as they are for the students. The University of Birmingham promotes a wide variety of work experience to its students, from summer internships and year long posts, through to part time work and bespoke employer engagements.
We want to prepare our students for the increasingly competitive jobs market by developing the necessary practical skills hand in hand with employers.
Two of the ways in which we’re doing this are the Professional Development Module and the Santander Universities Internship Scheme.
The Professional Development Module has been developed so that final-year undergraduates, from a variety of academic disciplines, can bring a fresh perspective to established businesses. The short term placements, any time from June to January, allow businesses to share knowledge and experience with the next generation of professionals, whilst the students gain credits by supporting businesses on a specific project or problem.
Santander has partnered with the University to provide match-funding of up to £1,500 for 10 week, full time graduate internships with SMEs. There is no set agenda for what areas of the business the internship should seek to address. Companies can chose to give specific projects to the interns or offer them broad roles where they develop a holistic understanding of the company’s work.
Strengthening the University’s connection with the business community, both regionally and nationally, is a large part of our work experience initiatives.
In turn businesses are able to develop meaningful long term and collaborative relationships with us, fostering repeat opportunities and access to the next group of talented graduates. These opportunities allow businesses to give back to their communities by improving students’ skills and networks, encouraging them to stay and enrich the regional economic landscape.
If you’re interested in discussing placement or internship opportunities for 2018, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact Sarah Tasker at placements@contacts.bham.ac.uk or Helen Hobson, H.Hobson@bham.ac.uk.
