Here at Student Hubs it’s no secret we’re passionate about getting students engaged with social and environmental issues. Volunteering opportunities are plentiful at university, but what about third sector employment? The social impact career path remains unclear to many talented and motivated students, which means the sector loses out on recruiting top graduates with great ideas for solving today’s social challenges.
Our Social Impact Internship Scheme seeks to change this by connecting students to meaningful placements with charities and social enterprises. Having launched in 2008, the scheme is one of our most popular programmes and the largest of its kind in the UK. Last year we received over 500 applications and placed 134 students in internships with 80 organisations.
We recruit passionate, socially engaged students from our Hub universities who are interested in gaining an insight into working in a socially impactful organisation. We then match these students with a host organisation effecting social change for a 4-8 week long placement during the summer holidays. Students can be placed in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Winchester or Southampton.
The placements are varied and diverse, but all of our internships guarantee students professional experience and skills development. Past internships have seen students involved in fundraising, event organisation, communications, campaigning and other areas. Importantly, all placements give students the opportunity to contribute to the positive social impact created by their host organisation.
Here’s what some of last year’s interns said about the Scheme:
“It has given me more confidence to pursue a career in the social impact sector, and belief in my own abilities.”
“The Scheme did all the work in finding a placement, which took the pressure off finding a project myself. The Scheme was excellent in giving a realistic idea of working life and the challenges charities face.”
And here’s what one of our hosts said:
“The three interns we were matched with provided us with invaluable help. They contributed their skills and knowledge and supported us by carrying out research, surveys and case studies. They were all fantastic.”
We provide recommendations to host organisations to ensure our interns receive meaningful work experience during their placement. You can read more about this in our policy report.
Furthermore, Student Hubs is committed to making internships accessible to everyone. We operate a Fair Internship Policy to which our host organisations must agree in order to host one of our interns. You can read more about the Policy here.
If you are a student at one of our Hub universities, apply via your local Hub site. Applications close on February 24th 2016.
If you are an organisation interested in hosting an intern, find out more and apply here.