West Midlands

The West Midlands has built on its strong experience in delivering graduate internships through its existing graduate internship scheme which works in partnership with organisations such as Job Centre Plus.

Six schemes are complementing this activity. Ten higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education colleges (FECs) are delivering 1,465 placements in the region using a variety of delivery models. These range from short-term to one-year placements and provide employment opportunities for graduates.

Universities and colleges are providing a range of services alongside placements, such as online and one-to-one careers guidance and support for STEM graduates.

Schemes which support new enterprise continue to grow. Universities are developing their partnerships with science parks to provide increasing amounts of incubation space and offer schemes which are aimed at graduates.

University of Worcester

The University of Worcester is providing over 180 graduate internships in a novel scheme designed to boost long-term graduate employability.

The scheme will provide graduates with four days paid employment plus one day a week studying for a postgraduate certificate in applied business management at the university. Each internship will last for a maximum of one year and is backed by a variety of firms including solicitors and other professional organisations and software companies.

Over 120 of these internships are available from July 2010.