East Midlands

Effort in the East Midlands has focused on areas such as preparing new and recently redundant graduates and professionals to (re)enter permanent employment. It does this through placement activity and one-to-one support.

Among this activity is a graduate internship scheme that forms part of the 'Backing Young Britain' project. This project encourages:

entrepreneurial skills and business start-up
graduate placements under a fast-track MBA course
comprehensive career advice.

Other activity includes a project to improve the enterprise skills and entrepreneurship capability of students and new graduates, by supporting them to develop enterprising ideas into businesses. Providing information to new graduates has been a major focus in the East Midlands. The popular 'Graduate Employability Stick' (a USB stick loaded with interactive presentations and information on job seeking, making applications, writing CVs and interview techniques) is distributed to final-year first-degree graduates without graduate jobs.

Regional graduate internship scheme

Led by De Montfort University, all higher education institutions (HEIs) in the region are pooling their resources to deliver the maximum amount of internships possible – 370.

Every HEI in the region has received an allocation to deliver from this central pot. Each is supporting graduates and employers through a range of pre-placement preparatory sessions, in-placement mentoring and post-placement guidance, using their own expertise and experience.

For the majority of internships, a wage offer £1,600 will be available.

Last updated 1 July 2010