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Innovative internship programme set to bring skills boost to North Lincolnshire businesses

Posted: 27 October 2022

Part of the DN Colleges Group announces that it is working with the University of Hull’s Humber Internships Programme (HIP) to offer an innovative internship scheme to tackle the skills gap.

The partnership will connect North Lincolnshire employers with degree-level knowledge, talent and skills offered by University Campus North Lincolnshire (UCNL) and University of Hull.

UCNL, part of the DN Colleges Group, is working with the University of Hull’s Humber Internships Programme (HIP).

The collaboration will support up to 100 talent-hungry SMEs with access to skilled graduates and undergraduates from both sides of the Humber for a 12-week internship.

It gives organisations valuable support in a range of areas from engineering and IT to project management and marketing while Interns get paid work experience to help launch them into successful and rewarding careers.

A 40% contribution to intern costs and free support means that the SME internships scheme provides a cost-effective way of finding resource for short-term project work or trialling graduates for permanent roles.

Working together to tackle the skills gap and improve employability

The aims of the partnership between UCNL and the University of Hull’s Humber Internships Programme are to:

  • Provide skills to fuel business productivity and growth.
  • Develop work-ready graduates and boost employability.
  • Retain highly skilled talent in the region.
  • Drive greater collaboration between Higher Education training providers.

Daniel Wilson, Group Executive Director of the DN Colleges Group, said:

“The Humber Internships Programme’s aim of supporting small businesses and retaining graduate level talent aligns perfectly with our strategy at the DN Colleges Group.

“The partnership with the SME internship scheme offers significant opportunity for us to add value to the portfolio of support we offer to local employers. Support of this nature is essential to the local economy in the current challenging economic climate which is being impacted by skills attraction and retention, and, we’re pleased to announce that we’re playing a leading role with the University of Hull led scheme.”

The partnership will help UCNL’s graduates and students to improve their employability through access to paid work opportunities in the workplace, whilst supporting through the cost-of-living crisis.

Pauline Mitchell, HIP Programme Manager for the University of Hull, said:

“We’re really excited to team up with a diverse institution such as University Campus North Lincolnshire.

“The competitive job market and cost of living crisis makes it even more critical to equip new talent with a breadth of paid learning opportunities. And for businesses, with the ever increasing challenge to find talent, there has never been a better time to consider recruiting an intern.”

Internships are a proven solution for small businesses

Local employers investing in new talent through the Humber Internships Programme include: Airco, BigVits, H&L Engineering, Marketing Humber, RSPCA (Hull & East Riding), Spectrum and Technica.

Confectionery specialist Creme d’Or recently employed intern Sarah Day, who designed a private label hot chocolate product to be stocked nationally by Fenwick in time for Christmas.

Helen Johnson, Product Manager at Crème d’Or, said:

“The Humber Internships Programme provides a fantastic opportunity to introduce skills at a high level and be supported throughout the process of recruitment and learn about best practices in interviewing and managing the intern.

“With the support of the Humber Internships Programme, the whole process has been very positive and benefitted the company enormously.”

Sarah has now accepted a permanent offer of employment with Crème d’Or.

HIP supports SMEs in North and North East Lincolnshire, including Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Cleethorpes, Barton-Upon-Humber and Brigg, as well those located in Hull and East Riding.

Launched in 2021, the internship scheme will run until August 2023 to support 100 additional internships.

The University of Hull secured funding from the European Social Fund to support the initiative, enabling the Humber Internships Programme to part-fund internships with SME clients across the Humber region.

Find out more

Whether you’re a business, graduate or final year degree student, and would like to find out more about how internships will benefit you, book onto the first the event on 18th November.

Full details at www.humberinternships.co.uk/events