Category Archives: Politics and International Relations

Saudi British Joint Business Council- Employer Case Study

Name of Organisation: Saudi British Joint Business Council

Description of Organisation: We are an independent and private sector-led body, which aims to develop and enhance business relations between Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Through both its British and Saudi members and its Secretariat in London and Riyadh, the council offers a range of services and provides access to high-level governmental and private sector networks in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.

Name of Employer: Chris Innes-Hopkins

Job Title: UK Executive Director

Internship Scheme used:  A2I, SBP

Employer subsidies (A2I) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Student Business Partnership (SBP) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Feedback:

We hired a Business Council Membership and Marketing Assistant through the University of Exeter Internship Scheme. The intern was prepared for the workplace and worked extremely well. He made an excellent contribution to SBJBC’s work and events, including leading on development of a new website.

The intern quickly made an impression and became a valuable member of our small team, leading on a number of events as well as preparation also. He demonstrated flexibility through remote working, working when necessary.

The Exeter internships at SBJBC have offered students the opportunity to help manage high profile events and important business relationships.  We were so impressed by the calibre of the student that we extended his role and offered him a full-time role for another six months to take forward a number of new projects. It’s pleasing to know that many interns have used the experience to move onto relevant careers in public and government affairs and communications.

This is the sixth time we have used the University’s Internship scheme, and as before it was a very positive experience. We received a good service from the Internships Team and would definitely recommend the Internships Scheme to other employers

 

Devon County Council- Employer Case Study

Name of Organisation: Devon County Council

Description of Organisation and Role: Devon County Council is the county council administering services across Devon. The members are elected every four years to reflect the electorate of each county division. Most being nominated by the large national political parties.

The main purpose of the internship was to support the Democratic process of Devon County Council to assist in ensuring those processes are carried out in accordance with statutory requirements and the Council’s Constitution and procedures and also with the promotion and encouragement of public involvement and participation through, for example, webcasting and social media.

Name of Employer: Karen Strahan

Job Title: Head of Democratic Services

Internship Scheme used:  GBP

Graduate Business Partnership (GBP) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Feedback:

We recruited an intern to work as a Democratic and Scrutiny Support Officer. He worked on a task group which researched air quality and congestion in Devon. This included producing a report with innovative recommendations targeted at improving air quality and congestion. The report attracted media attention with the Chair undertaking a radio interview, based on the work done by our brilliant intern. Our student became a very important part of our team.

I believe quite passionately about giving young people the opportunity to start their careers and give them a platform to move onwards and upwards. At present there was no vacant full-time position to offer so I made the decision to go through the intern process for a second time.

As a newly appointed manager, I was keen to explore the opportunities offered by the GBP. The fact that I am about to undertake a second placement is testament to the GBP and the calibre of candidates that apply for the positions. The experience was very positive, support from the University of Exeter is excellent and also a fresh face joining the team is always good to shake things up and look at how we do things differently. I recommend hiring an intern, ours was timely and smart and made a positive contribution to our organisation.

 

Student Researcher – University of Exeter Education Incubator

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

  • Offering administrative support to three Chinese fellows on MOOC course on contemporary Chinese culture
  • Planning and drafting a social media campaign
  • Proofreading and editing of English texts written by non-native speakers, and adapting these to an online context
  • Recruiting student and non-student volunteers for the trial version of the course

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

The independent nature of the role meant that I was able to really strengthen my skills in taking the initiative and working autonomously and independently.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Administrative support, lightening my colleagues’ workload, and ensuring that all course content and materials were adapting and appropriate for an English-language audience.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Communication, leadership, decision making

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Initiative, perseverance, independence

ESI Research Assistant – University of Exeter, Penryn

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

During my time as a research assistant I had one main role – this was to research Circular Economy in both theory and practice across several different nations. Nations and areas researched included Costa Rica, Kenya and the European Union which was to be used during presentations and a very brief start to a research paper. I was given a new nation to research each time I finished my work making this was my main role in ESI.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

My ability to research effectively and put it into writing vastly improved.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to lighten the workload for my professor who is currently researching a project.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Communication, problem solving, time and workload management

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Initiative, logical thinking, professionalism

Insight, Intelligence and Communications Intern – Southampton City Council

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I conducted a preparatory briefing on the Brexit White Paper which is circulated to senior staff and councillors of Southampton and completed a task concerning the mapping of public sector and third sector services that tackle serious violence in Southampton in order to inform the council’s decision to bid for Serious Violence Strategy funding. I created a local needs assessment that included current statistics regarding violent, knife, and hate crime, domestic abuse, reoffending rates, comparing the data nationally with statistical neighbours and per individual wards. Additionally, the needs assessment included data on looked after children, deprivation areas and school absences to coincide with the strategy’s youth prevention priority. I reviewed an annual report that records the progress of the actions that respond to the Youth Justice Strategy. From this report I deduced whether the action will remain for the forthcoming year or whether full progress had been made and thus a new action would take its place.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I realised my potential within the policy team and have definitely decided this is the career for me. Specifically, I actually aided the team with their work, especially with the creation of the local needs assessment and thus my internship was beneficial for everyone!

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I efficiently completed each task quicker than expected thus, freed up the teams work to do other tasks.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Problem solving, strategic planning, focus of goals and outcomes

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Confidence, cultural awareness, logical thinking

Eva, Employability and Work Placement Assistant

Degree: MA in Human Rights and International Politics 2017

Job Role: An Employability and Work Placement Assistant works within the Student Employability and Acadmic Success team to provide administrative support covering all aspects of emplyability and in particular, work placements across all colleges.

Eva’s Experience: I am originally from Athens, Greece and started applying for jobs, in various NGOs in the UK, Belgium and France. I decided to apply for a GBP position as I am aware of how placement schemes work in some European countries. I would encourage students to apply for the GBP scheme as it gives recent graduates the opportunity to explore their options, before they have a finalised career path. After the end of my internship I will apply for field work in Argentina, promoting equal access to education, for all children.

Simon, Higher Education Project Officer

Degree: BA History and Politics 2017

Job Role: A Higher Education Project Officer provides support for projects in the Exeter Education Incubator, supporting academics who are working on projects to reimagine how university education can be delivered.

Simon’s Experience: I applied for this GBP because it was an exciting chance for me to learn a variety of useful employment skills in quite a short time, whilst also earning money. The fact that the GBP is only 6 months is actually convenient for me, as I am planning on doing a Masters in September. I graduated summer 2017 in history and politics, and I would absolutely encourage any other graduate to take up a GBP, particularly those who don’t know exactly what they want to do career-wise, but still want to do something that will significantly improve their employability. Beyond doing a Masters my own long-term plans are still quite vague, but what I do know is that whatever I end up doing, the skills and experiences I have picked up here will definitely prove relevant.

Fundraising and Administrative Intern – Pump Aid

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 What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I am working as a Fundraising and Administrative Intern for an NGO/Charity called Pump Aid. They work in Malawi with the aim of providing clean water to as many people as possible. They have a base in Malawi, but I am in London working in a small team of about 6 or 7 daily. Because it is such a small charity, I have been very fortunate to be able to see how each aspect of the charity works. I have had meetings with each member of staff from the CEO to the graphic designer, so I feel like I have an incredibly in-depth knowledge of every angle of the organisation.

I have already been put in charge of all of the social media for the charity on a variety of different sites, as well as being responsible for the fundraising reconciliation. This involves using different databases and websites to record every donation that is received.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I wrote my dissertation on the link between gender roles and water poverty in Africa, so I am very happy to be putting my degree to use!

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The director of programmes has already asked for information, and I have put together a report for him based on my research, so hopefully I will be more involved in that side of the organisation more and more.

 

Planning and Research Intern – All We Can, Methodist Relief and Development

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What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

I had a variety of tasks to fulfil during my time as an intern at All We Can as I had various roles in the organisation. I was first tasked to review their travel policy for when staff members would go to meet partners in developing countries. This required extensive research on the transport to and from, as well as in, the respective countries. After this I worked on the organisation’s country profiling documents, assessing which countries would be viable for AWC to work in and find partners. Once again this required research on many aspects of the country such as its HDI, political environment, corruption levels and cultural backgrounds. The third task I was given was to create a flow chart describing the organisations guidance on scoping new countries for partners to work with. I helped at a supporters awareness meeting in the Midlands where I represented the organisation and assisted with answering questions from supporters and clearing down the room. I summarised and tabulated answers from the questionnaires filled in by the international partners regarding the advocacy and humanitarian work of AWC, as well as investigating what the salary scales for international NGO’s staff working in developing countries was.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I received a first-hand eye witness experience of what it means to work in an international humanitarian aid organisation dealing with work directly related to humanitarian development with partners in developing countries. From this I have been able to gain a better understanding of what working in this industry entails, and all of the behind the scenes work that goes into making projects successful. The most rewarding of all was being exposed to a totally new, cutting-edge approach to humanitarian aid that I had not come across before in my studies whereby this small organisation is able to partner with communities and work not only with them, but for them.  The people receiving the funding are at the table with the donors setting the agenda for the aid work that will take place in the community. This was incredibly enlightening and eye-opening for me.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The work which I did for All We Can during my internship enabled them to accelerate their administration and planning programs regarding the new approach to partnerships in developing countries. This decreased and simplified the workload for several of the staff and provided support when several of the staff were away on international trips visiting partners. I also ensured the smooth running of the supporters awareness day.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

There were some occasions when I struggled to understand how to formulate certain information and I was able to ask for advice and support to complete the work effectively. I was unable to access the printer from my computer therefore I emailed the work to a colleague and they were able complete this for me.

“Joel  carried out research, providing global poverty and development statistics that fed into our country scoping strategy. He also analysed survey questionnaires on our humanitarian assistance and advocacy programmes and provided a summarised and condensed version of the results, spelling out trends and patterns. He also supported one of our volunteer training sessions.” – Head of Programme Operations.

Employment Services Administration Assistant – University of Exeter

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What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

For the majority of my internship, I worked on preparations for the various careers fairs run by the team. This involved lots of administration tasks and paying attention to detail was paramount. I also worked at the fairs themselves, making sure they went smoothly and that nothing was overlooked. Alongside my work on the fairs, I also worked with the internships team, uploading vacancies and dealing with financials. Here, I had to prepare invoices and update spreadsheets with care to make sure employees were paid the correct amounts.

Towards the end of my internship, when the fairs were over, I began a project called the Internships Index. During this project I aggregated over 140 case studies from students who took part in University managed paid internships and uploaded them all onto a website for students and graduates.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I am very proud of the Internship Index project I worked on. I took it on from another member of the team who left very early on in its conception. Therefore, I was able to make it my own and ultimately decide on its direction. While I will not be here for its official launch in September, I have prepared much of the launch plan and marketing actions and will be pleased to see it being used!

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

My work on the fairs allowed others on the team liaise with employers and focus on generating revenue for the team. Event organisations requires a lot of admin tasks that are time consuming but need doing. I was able to fulfil this role.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

Working on the financial side of things was a bit tricky at first, as I had not worked on balance spreadsheets before but the more I did them the easier it became!

“It was great having Sophia on the team, she was a real asset and was extremely flexible in terms of taking on dfifferent projects and working extra hours, when needed. She was efficient, reliable and hardworking and provided great support in enabling us to run our fairs and events smoothly.” – Employment Services Operations Officer

University of Exeter Internship Schemes, UoE Internships, SCP, SBP, GBP, A2I