UCL-CAMDEN POLICY INTERNSHIPS An overview of what happened WHY WE RAN THEM
WHAT THEY INVOLVED
Student placements are an impactful way to support partnerships and build student employability.
Policy bootcamps were held for students in 2020, to prepare them for working in policy organisations.
UCL and Camden Council have a rich history of working together and student placements offered a way to continue our collaboration and work together to reach shared goals.
Over a 10 week period in the summer of 2021 the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Camden council hosted university interns. Across Camden's portfolio students explored policy issues like the impact of COVID-19 on physical activity.
We developed ‘personas’ to represent feedback from students, managers and facilitators.
Drawn to Camden's resident-centred approach to policy making and saw the internship as beneficial for future employability, exploring career options, and giving back to local community.
Interns bring new skills, perspectives, and extra capacity for Council teams.
Being part of a cohort, supportive teams and flexibility around work prioritisation made starting less daunting. But, sometimes felt out of my depth and unsure what aspects of the work to prioritise.
Helped me to develop skills and work experience and influenced my future career choices.
Keen to strengthen existing relationships between UCL and Camden and build new one with UoM.
On boarding interns was easy, but would have liked more involvement in matching to roles. Would have appreciated a better understanding of the overall purpose of the programme. Took 3 hours p/wk to manage.
Interns invigorated and added dynamism to the team and our policy approach, whilst also contributing research and a rigorous analysis to policy issues.
Enthusiastic response for interns. Lots of logistical planning involved including contracts, payments, IT infrastructure, student preparation and wellbeing support. Took up 1/2 day of working time p/wk.
Showed how positive collaborations make an impact, build professional networks and the potential for future joint projects.
LEARNINGS Build awareness amongst all programme participants to support the broader goal of collaboration between universities and local authorities.
Consider hosting internships throughout the year to more effectively match work flow and staff availability to support interns.
Foster deeper connections between Camden, UCL and UoM to help support the mobility of both staff and students beyond the life-time of the internships; and introduce more regular feedback loops between stakeholders to track impact.
Secure resource to develop stable infrastructure to enable Bootcamp and internship scale up.
To find out more, visit bit.ly/ucl-placements
Designed by Nifty Fox Creative, 2021.