Internships provide students with opportunities to gain practical work experience, learn valuable skills and enhance their resume while also growing their professional network. It is a professional learning experience that offers meaningful, practical work related to a student’s field of study or career interest.
An internship gives a student the opportunity for career exploration and development as it also offers the employer the opportunity to bring new ideas and energy into the workplace, develop talent and potentially build a pipeline for future full-time employees. It provides a platform where interns increase their employability status as most employers are more likely to offer employment to graduates who have obtained some form of job experiences.
To tap into the benefits of internships, some universities in the United Kingdom (UK) partner with some global corporations such as PwC, HSBC, Santander and Vodafone to provide internship opportunities to both domestic and international students to enhance their skills.
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This article seeks to provide prospective interns with the information regarding some of the UK universities that provide platforms for students to perform their internships.
UK Universities Offering Paid Internships to Students
1#. University of Edinburgh
The summer internship programme of the University of Edinburgh is open to all students and alumni of the institution for up to two years upon completion of their programmes. Internship opportunities are available in fields including science, business, law, performing arts, and design. Other fields are engineering, computing, technology, etc.
Students are afforded the opportunity to sign up for a 10-week internship program, during which time they will work for 35 hours weekly. Santander and the Career service division of the University support the internship offer.
2#. University of Oxford
The internship programs at Oxford are designed to help students build their skills during term time and the vacations. Students are offered the opportunity to gain work experience while on campus which will further enhance their ability to apply what they’ve learnt in school. Employers who look to recruit interns at Oxford University are also given the opportunity to get involved and participate in Oxford’s internship programmes.
The internship programmes available include the Summer Internship Programme, the Micro-Internship Programme, and the Crankstart Internship Programme. Information about internship offer and participation can be obtained from the Oxford University Careers Service.
3#. Loughborough University
Loughborough University provides several paid internship positions available in student recruitment, student recruitment marketing, academic school marketing, alumni engagement and communications. The positions offer the intern opportunity to gain valuable marketing experience and usually full time and fixed term of 12 months.
Prospective interns must be passionate and talented graduates, current final year students or those looking to undertake a placement year to join the University’s award-winning Marketing and Advancement team.
4#. Coventry University
Coventry University has made a robust provision for internship opportunities for students. Students who wish to undertake an internship or consulting project will need to be directly interviewed and selected by an employer. Students who want to enroll for the opportunity must demonstrate excellent academic performance and maintain regular attendance throughout their programme.
The University’s Talent Team provides students with professional career support all through their stay at Coventry University and also prepare them for a potential interview and work opportunity.
5#. Imperial College London
There are several internship opportunities for students and recent graduates at Imperial College London. This University provides a job board for students (and graduates) where internship and job opportunities from employers can be found. Individuals who have previously studied at another university may still have access to the job board of Imperial College London.
6#. University of Birmingham
Internship opportunities abound for students at University of Birmingham. Summer internships take place during the summer vacation in a professional role within industry. They are usually 8-12 weeks duration. Formal internship programmes are targeted predominantly (though not exclusively) at penultimate year students and are also used to recruit to graduate training programmes.
Internship deadlines can also be as early as October, but can be advertised all year round. They usually start in July. It is best to apply early in case places get filled before the deadline.
7#. University of Bristol
There are a wide variety of internships that are advertised by companies looking to recruit students from the University of Bristol. These are all paid opportunities and may be local, national or even global.
Some of the internship offer available at Bristol can be found at the Career Service Unit and includes: Small or Medium Sized Enterprise Internship Schemes, Part-time Work Alongside your Studies, Summer Vacation Schemes and Easter Insight, etc.