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Careers Extra Internship Scheme

This scheme provides funded internship opportunities for UK undergraduates from under-represented groups with charities/social enterprises and SMEs.

Thanks to a generous donation from one of our alumni, we are providing funding opportunities for UCL Careers Extra student interns to work with charities/social enterprises or SMEs during Summer 2025 (between 16 June and 12 September).

The deadline for employers to submit proposals is 5 pm on Monday 3 February 2025 and we encourage employers to have a brief discussion with the Careers Extra team about the scheme and its aims before submitting a proposal. To receive more details about participating in this scheme, please email careers.extra@ucl.ac.uk to request a meeting and information.

Students standing in a line
UCL Careers Extra students are all UK undergraduates from under-represented groups so hosting a Careers Extra intern can support the diversity goals of your organisation. You can find out more about Careers Extra here.

How will I benefit as an employer?

  • You are provided with funding to host up to two UCL Careers Extra student or graduate interns.
  • Each student/graduate will work with you for 140 hours full time (four weeks at a maximum of 35 hours per week) on a project or projects designed both to be of value to your organisation and to enhance the student’s skills. Internships can also be offered part-time over a longer duration as an alternative but must be completed by 12 September 2025.
  • Your intern can support you with a project or business development initiative that will move your organisation forward.
  • Your intern will provide you with fresh perspectives and bring new talent to your organisation.
  • Hosting a UCL Careers Extra student can support the diversity goals of your organisation.

Eligibility

To participate in this scheme your organisation must be:

  • Registered and based in the UK

Your organisation must be registered and/or trading in the UK to be eligible for the scheme.

  • Either a Charity/Social Enterprise (CIC) or SME

We define SMEs as having 250 or fewer employees and an annual turnover below $50 million. 

  • Able to provide the intern with a desk or space at which to work

We consider that an in-person internship is most beneficial to students but the work project(s) can be virtual.

  • Able to provide support and supervision to an intern

Students will bring many skills but the internship scheme is designed also to support them in acquiring or enhancing additional skills that will be valuable for their careers.  It is therefore required that interns are allocated support and regular supervision to maximise their learning.

Offering an internship exclusively to a UCL student or graduate who is not:

  • A current/previous paid employee/intern
  • A shareholder of the business
  • A relative to the owner(s)/director(s)

Funding

  • Payment to Intern

The interns on this scheme must be paid the London Living Wage (currently £13.85 per hour) via your payroll. Companies will then invoice UCL for the funding amount once the internship is completed. UCL will fund the full cost for charities and social enterprises (CIC) of 140 hours’ pay at LLW and will fund 50% for SMEs.

If you would like to participate in the scheme but have the ability to fully fund the internship yourself please get in touch with us for a chat.

Places on this scheme are limited and in assessing proposals we will look for internships which offer students a range of learning opportunities with clear support and supervision, and which cover skills students have identified as important to them.  These include:

  • Analysing data/statistical analysis
  • Writing up reports
  • Working to a brief
  • Technical skills – excel and coding
  • Presenting/public speaking
  • Working with/for clients
  • Dealing with financial documents/processes/concepts.

Students are keen to undertake hands-on projects which involve interacting with a range of employees at different levels and/or departments within the organisation.

We also aim to offer students internships in a variety of sectors, which will be taken into account when selecting internships for inclusion in the scheme.

Get involved

To receive more details about participating in this scheme, please email careers.extra@ucl.ac.uk to request a meeting and information.

UCL Careers Extra Summer Internship Scheme 2024-25 Overview and Important Dates
UCL Careers Extra Summer Internship Scheme 2024-25 Terms of Engagement

Student quotes - Internship Scheme 2022-23

 … was an incredible employer. Their collaborative culture really stood out to me, and they repeatedly highlighted that their priority was to make this internship a useful learning experience. They trusted me with a similar sense of responsibility as a regular team member, with the opportunity to work on two projects. . . My input was always valued and encouraged to ensure this internship provided me with a personalised learning experience."
This opportunity strengthened all key skills such as problem-solving (not everything goes to plan during an event!), decision-making (your supervisor will not always be there to answer questions), teamwork (there are several individuals behind every campaign such as finance, marketing etc and you will need to know how to work alongside them to deliver a successful outcome), digital skills (I was unfamiliar with Canva, Buzzsprout, and Mailchimp before my internship and now I am a self-proclaimed pro!)."

Employer quotes - Internship Scheme 2022-23

“Our intern was fantastic, engaged in their work and worked extremely well with other members of our … team. They had clear ideas and a drive to improve and contribute, I was very impressed with their ability to communicate their ideas/opinions and develop and rework their offerings based on feedback. They brought a fresh perspective and were very digitally savvy which was great."
Working with a UCL graduate through this scheme is incredibly rewarding for team members. UCL interns bring energy and enthusiasm, along with creative thinking and 'can-do' attitude which is motivating for employees at all levels. It is great to see cross fertilisation of ideas and learnings for all that are involved in the programme.  We...especially love the challenges UCL interns put forward when working on projects that help us re-evaluate how to approach existing processes and projects."


Final presentations – student perspectives video 2023

Students who took part in the Careers Extra Internships Scheme 2022-23 describe their internships and what they learned from them.

MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/f3J9Ic8B

Scheme overview video 2023

An overview of the aims of the Careers Extra Internships Scheme 2022-23, including feedback from participating employers about their experiences of hosting Careers Extra interns.

MediaCentral Widget Placeholderhttps://mediacentral.ucl.ac.uk/Player/i91BBf10