Some of you may have read articles in today’s newspapers about the release of a strongly worded 167-page Gordon Brown commissioned report led by MP Alan Milburn.

The Report aims to highlight the growing issue of ‘social mobility’ and provides an analysis of the “closed shop” scenarios that exist within many of the top professions in the UK.

“Internships: New opportunities to get onto the professional career ladder”

What has this got to do with us? Chapter 7 – “Internships: New opportunities to get onto the professional career ladder” highlights the growing importance of internships and placements and “why fair access to internships is vital for social mobility.”

It is refreshing to see that the internships and work placements are on the Government agenda:

“Internships are an essential part of the career ladder in many professions. They are part and parcel of a modern, flexible economy and are useful both for interns and for employers. Indeed many professional employers put a great deal of time and effort into their internships. Where once they were an informal means of gaining practical insight into a particular career, today they are a rung on the ladder to success.”

The report again reiterates that benefits of completing an internship or placement and demonstrates that they increase the chances of securing a professional position after graduating, as shown in this diagram:

Whilst there is nothing earth-shatteringly new in the report, it does go on to then highlight the issues around placements and internships that currently exist. Namely, the geographical, social and cost barriers that prevent students partaking in them and also the varying quality of work experience on offer (as demonstrated on RateMyPlacement.)

The report makes a series of recommendations to the Government around three areas:

1. Establishing a fair and transparent system for internships
2. Recognising best practice: a national Kitemark for employers
3. Affordability: removing financial constraints

Currently, according to the report, barriers exist that prevent students from partaking in internships include:

a) lacking the financial means to work for a low-cost salary or even free of charge (socio-economic factors) b) lacking the means to travel to the location of the internship (geographic factors) c) coming from a background in which a professional internship is never considered or discussed (information factors)

The RateMyPlacement Opinion

Make internships more inclusive by making them paid

Many internships, especially those in more vocational sectors are unpaid and this creates a vast amount of the socio-economic imbalance. We believe the onus should come from the goverment, through tax breaks to companies, work experience grants or even a minimum salaries to ensure all work experience is paid.

Even in some of the large corporates who pay their interns a good wage the fact that the student has to pay for accomodation upfront, often in London where prices are astronomical, may stop some students being able to afford the move. Paying some students their wage upfront may stop this from occuring.

Overcome informational factors by making work experience part of a degree

The fact is that most students will go into business after they graduate so it makes sense to reward some part of a student’s overall degree grade on work experience that will impact their future career. If work experience becomes the normality within a university, it won’t need to be a parent or sibling that encourages it, the university will provide the impetus.

What about placement years?

Whilst this report is clearly a positive step towards widening participation by employers and students in internship schemes and does recognise the various issues and barriers that exist, I think it fails to acknowledge the growing importance and usefulness of 12 month work placements.

Yes, completing an internship for a few weeks over the summer is without a doubt a useful experience (if you can afford to do one that is) however for me, a summer internship pales in insignificance compared to a full 12 month work placement. This is where I believe the Government should be placing their focus and providing employers with the necessary knowledge and support to set up formal placement schemes.

There are literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of employers who take on placement students in 12 month positions from universities all over the country. The average salary for a placement year is around the £15,000 mark so there can be no arguing that students cannot afford to work; whilst the fact that placements are taking place all over the country means that the geographical issues associated with internships are less prominent.

For me, the Government should be putting pressure on the more traditional universities to introduce degree courses that contain a ‘sandwich’ year – going to university should be about (amongst other things) getting ready for the workplace and a professional career. Completing a placement year is the perfect complement to a student’s studies and can often lead to a graduate job. The Government also needs to provide employers with the necessary tools, information and support to enable companies of all shapes and sizes to bring on placement students who can genuinely bring something to the organisation.

Click here to read the Report in full. As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Here are a few other interesting articles around the Report from different viewpoints:

http://internsanonymous.co.uk/

http://new.u.tv/articles/ArticlePrint.aspx?cat=news&guid=7128a1a8-98fa-4914-bb39-3c6208107d68

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/janetdaley/100004129/two-cheers-for-alan-milburns-report/