Santander Universities Employability Scheme

Through the scheme, SMEs can claim up to £1,000 funding for 70 - 105 hours (2-3 week) project-based internships, for a maximum of 35 hours per week. The interns must be paid a minimum of £9.50 per hour and the internship must provide the intern with graduate-level work experience. Please note, the minimum/maximum hours and wage are slightly different for London based internships, to account for the Living Wage, and you should confirm these with the Placements & Internships Team before applying.

The aim of the scheme is to provide students and recent graduates with the opportunity to gain relevant work experience and utilise the skills they have developed on their course in a real world setting. Likewise, it is to help SME employers access new learning and skills from a student or graduate, as well as helping employers explore whether a student or graduate can benefit their business in the longer-term.

Who is eligible to apply?

Business

Organisation must be an SME, based and registered in the UK. For the purposes of this funding, an SME is defined as a company (Limited Company, Charity, Social Enterprise/CIC, Partnership etc) that has fewer than 250 employees and a turnover of below £50 million per year.
As long as they are UK based, internships can be virtual, on location or a mix of both.
You can recruit a maximum of 3 interns through the scheme from any UK institution
You must issue the student or graduate with a contract of employment and issue payslips that will be checked as evidence before the funding is issued.

If you are an SME and would like to receive full eligibility criteria and guidance, along with an application form, please contact sv.employers@northumbria.ac.uk.

Intern

Northumbria University students at any stage or graduate of the last 3 years (2020, 2021 and 2022)
Student or graduate from any Northumbria undergraduate course or postgraduate course
Once a student or graduate has completed a fully paid work project with a business, they cannot apply for another fully funded work project with the same business.

If you are a student and are interested in the scheme, please contact sv.employers@northumbria.ac.uk.