London

The London region has the highest number of universities and therefore the variety of provision and support for graduates is significant, particularly in specialist sectors such as the creative arts.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) across the region have worked to fund and deliver activities aimed at helping final-year students and recent graduates prepare for future employment. Employability skills, career support, business start-up advice and entrepreneurial skills are examples of the training offered across the region.

Institutions are offering internships, placements and graduate training schemes in a variety of ways. In the East of London a consortium of HEIs sourced 117 placements in the first month, and placed 21 graduates in businesses.

City University London

Our Economic Challenge Investment Fund has, so far, supported the training and work of interns on two notable projects.

The first related to the digital media sector and brought together London-based interns with colleagues in Dubai, to investigate the potential of Middle Eastern market-entry for a local medium-sized enterprise. This venture now collates thousands of art works online from talented young artists. This online presence aims to serve those artists with little current visibility in the market-place and art-lovers who cannot afford new art.

The second project turns on an innovative approach to clean technology. A team of interns are creating a spin-out around university technology in domestic wind-turbine blades. Engineering academics have spent four years working on their innovation and believed it had commercial potential. Interns conducted intensive market research and wrote a business plan, then created the shell company. This will be the commercial vehicle into which the intellectual property will be licensed, and through which the products (domestic wind turbines) will be manufactured and marketed.

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