AGCAS: Government announces national internship service

Government announces national internship service

The government has announced the creation of a national internship service, which will deliver undergraduate internships, partly with the aim of widening access to professions which Alan Milburn's report Unleashing Aspiration highlighted as being out of reach for less well-off or connected graduates.

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has announced that the focus of the scheme will be on SMEs and on the professions highlighted in the Milburn report. It is thought that this focus will benefit students and graduates by building on the work of higher education institutions and more established graduate recruiters.

AGCAS CEO, Magaret Dane, said:

'AGCAS and HE careers services welcome initiatives to ensure that entry to important professions such as the law, media, medicine and politics is based on ability rather how long an applicant can work unpaid or how well-connected their family is. We are looking forward to finding out more about the latest proposals and to working with government to ensure they succeed.'

AGCAS is in regular contact with BIS and has agreed to feed back any comments received from HE careers services by 31 January 2010. AGCAS members are invited to email Chris Jackson.

Details of improved government financial support for graduates undertaking unpaid or expenses-only internships, along with a summary of other recent BIS initiatives, are included in the attachment available below.

Internship funding downloads
- Internship funding support (BIS) (59 KB)

If items are locked please check that you are registered and signed in to ensure that you can see all parts of the site to which you have been given access.

Tags: alan milburn widening participation internships

Created on: 18 January 2010

Last updated: 08 February 2010