£1 million boost for graduate careers

Northumbria University is launching a £1.1m project to help its graduates start up businesses and gain employment experience as interns.

The University already runs a scheme called Enterprise Campus which helps students and graduates establish their own businesses, and last year piloted an internship scheme which saw 81% of interns permanently recruited at the end of their placements.

Now, funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) will enable Northumbria University to deliver a new project that will support current students and recent graduates to develop 30 new businesses. The project will also provide interns to small businesses, with up to half of the cost of their salary being paid by the University.