York Internships

My business has really benefited from working with the University of York Internship and Placements team. The team is super friendly and very helpful throughout the process of finding the perfect intern. We've had several outstanding students assist us on a range of projects and their work has helped us to grow in new and exciting ways.

Bethany Watrous, Founder of Experience Heritage

Have you ever thought about recruiting an intern, but don't know where to start? We can help you!

York Internships (formerly known as the Student Internship Bureau) offers employers of all sizes the opportunity to engage the skills and enthusiasm of our students and graduates to support high-quality projects to further support your business; from digital transformation, to software development to research roles.

Internships can be full time or part-time and can be hybrid, remote or in-person - whatever works best for you.

We provide a full recruitment service and manage all of the payment administration for you. That means that we advertise your vacancy, shortlist applicants, manage all of the contracting and right to work checks, and even pay our interns from the university payroll, meaning you don't need to hire them on your own books.

If you're interested in bringing some fresh talent into your business, we'd love to help. Contact us via email at careers-placements@york.ac.uk to chat through your options. Alternatively you can download and complete the relevant form in the 'Expression of Interest forms' drop-down below and return it to us via email.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Kindest regards,
Rhiannon and the York Internships Team

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What is an internship?

The process

Step 1 - Project Scoping

Speak to the York Internships team to discuss your ideas for an internship, the scope of the project and the skills and experience required to achieve your outcomes
Download and complete one of the Expression of Interest forms linked above, after which we'll prepare a project brief that forms the basis of the advert that the students see
Sign up as an employer on Handshake (this helps us manage employer relationships and track analytics effectively)

Step 2 - Advertising

Once the project brief is agreed and confirmed, the opportunity will be advertised through our Careers Portal, Handshake, for a minimum of two weeks
York Internships will monitor applications throughout this period and publicise the internship through various marketing channels appropriate to your particular role

Step 3 - Shortlisting and Interviews

When advertising is completed we will shortlist the applications and provide you with the applications of the most suitable candidates. Once you’ve reviewed the applications you may contact some or all of the candidates to arrange interviews at your convenience. We are happy to provide interview space on campus if needed.
Remember to keep York Internships informed along the way of interview dates agreed, and advise us of your decision once you’ve chosen your intern and provided additional feedback to unsuccessful interviewees
Confirm to York Internships the agreement made with the student regarding a start date, hours/days of work and any flexible working arrangements if applicable (especially for part time roles)

Step 4 - Right to Work checks and Paperwork

The University will complete Right To Work checks and York Internships will prepare the paperwork for both you and the intern to sign
Once the project starts, York Internships manages the payment process to the intern on a monthly basis

Step 5 - Invoicing (external hosts)

York Internships will invoice you, during the internship, for the total cost of the project (including associated employer on costs) less any Santander funding agreed in advance that is applicable
York Internships will contact you in the first couple of weeks of the project to ensure that everything is progressing as expected
Interns may be visited in the workplace during the project and an evaluation will be sent electronically to all intern hosts at the end of the project

Internship costs

Funding for SMEs

Expression of Interest forms

Type of host	Expression of Interest form
SMEs and charities eligible for part-funded Santander internships (please see 'Funding for SMEs' section below)	York Internships Employer Santander EOI 2024-2025 (MS Word , 107kb)
Self-funded (i.e. not eligible for funding)	York Internships Employer EOI 2024-2025 (MS Word , 81kb)
On-campus University of York departments	York Internships On-Campus Department EOI 2024-2025 (MS Word , 85kb)

Past projects

Case studies

International talent

Did you know that just over 20% of the University of York's student population come from outside the UK, from almost 100 countries across the world? Many international students are actively seeking work experience and internship opportunities both to develop their skills and knowledge in the workplace, and to contribute to UK business' competitive advantage in the global market.

The cultural knowledge and language skills that come with an international student could benefit your business in a range of ways, from developing international marketing materials to providing insight into an overseas business market for potential import/export activities.

Previous University of York interns have undertaken a wide range of projects with companies in York and the North Yorkshire region, giving businesses a unique insight into overseas markets, and for potential import and export activities. Examples of previous projects include:

Multilingual web content translation project for an executive search agency
Establishing an inward investment China Desk in York for an accountancy firm
Researching the latest products being used and marketed abroad, and their success and viability in the UK for a renewable energy company
Organising a business summit for international visitors to York for a conference business
Developing a market report exploring the opportunities for export to the Far East for a food manufacturer

Case study: Developing a China desk in York

Garbutt & Elliott engaged two Chinese postgraduate students, Jingwen Feng and Xu Wang, to develop a China Desk for the company and to create content for an inward investment web page in Mandarin.

Garbutt & Elliott commented that, ‘Jingwen’s and Xu’s outstanding commitment has enabled us to begin development of a reputation as a trusted advisor to Chinese firms investing in the UK. It is important for world-class universities such as the University of York to demonstrate the great opportunities available to students by taking on internships in companies with vision.’

SME Toolkit - a guide to employing students

FAQs

Q. Is taking on an intern only for large businesses?

Not at all - York Internships are available for businesses of all sizes. There is no limit to the number of projects you can run or the number of interns you can hire. The only difference is that smaller businesses may be eligible for funding whereas larger organisations may be required to self-fund.

Q. Why do I need to register as an employer?

This is so that we can manage our employer relationships and also effectively track analytics. It's helpful for us to know as a careers service whether businesses have hosted interns in the past. It also means that if you want to advertise other opportunities that don't quite fit the internship programme, you're already set up on the system.

Q. What type of projects can it cover?

The sky's the limit, as long as it's deliverable against our timeframes and is designed to have a significant impact on your business - take a look at our case studies for inspiration. Some past examples of intern roles have included software developers, CRM programmers, market research assistants, website translators, social media content creators and data analysts.

Q. How long is the internship? Can I keep an intern on afterwards?

Our internships can last between 4 and 12 weeks, and if you start at the lower end, we can extend up to a maximum of 12 weeks total once the internship has started. If you wish to appoint your intern after the 12 weeks, it would be via your business' own recruitment process and they would be officially onboarded and added to your books.

Q. Do I need business premises – can they work hybrid?

As well as in-person internships, we also offer remote and hybrid projects, which are perfect for businesses that have limited working space or premises. Take a look at our hints and tips to support businesses undertaking a virtual internship.

Q. I'm eligible for funding - how does it work?

Great! Subject to availability, we allocate funding at the point of receiving a completed Expression of Interest (EOI) form. This is automatically deducted from your final invoice so you don't need to apply for it.

Q. Can you help with the job description and can I interview the applicants?

Of course. Once we receive your EOI, we draft up a project brief that forms the basis of your advert. At this point we also confirm key dates such as interviews and start date. Once we've drafted this we share it with you to make sure you're happy with the wording, and then we'd advertise this via Handshake. After the advert closes and we've completed the first round of shortlisting, we send the candidate list onto you so that you can review this and arrange interviews directly with candidates.

Q. Do they go on my payroll?

No, we pay all interns through the university payroll, which means they don't need to be added to your books. Interns submit weekly timesheets that we approve and they're paid monthly in line with university process. We simply invoice you for the total cost of the project minus any funding.

Q. Do I need Employers Liability Insurance?

We ask that all hosts have Employers Liability insurance to cover any potential risks and/or issues that could occur such as damage or illness. If you don't have this, most insurance providers will allow you to take out a short term policy to cover you for the duration of the internship.

Internal UoY Staff Only

Internship projects

Internships hosted by Academic and Professional Service departments on campus will be available all year round. Intern projects are between 4 and 12 weeks in duration and can be completed full time or part time.

They centre on projects with defined outcomes which will add value to the work of the department, and do not replace or ‘stand in’ for existing, regular work.

All internships should be project based and offer tangible benefits to the department while providing challenging and graduate-level work experience to the student, allowing them the opportunity to develop and build skills.

Rates and administration

The current intern rate of pay is £12.60 per hour (in line with the University's real living wage commitment. The cost to the department is £15.52 per hour to allow for employer on-costs (inclusive of holiday pay, apprenticeship levy and NI).

The full administration and payment of the internships will be managed by Careers and Placements.

Departments should be aware that they will need to provide Careers and Placements with a workorder for their internship contribution; this will be requested at the point of advertising a project, and departments should ensure that they have authorised Careers and Placements to be able to use the workorder; without this authorisation intern payments will be delayed. At the earliest opportunity in the internship process, please ensure that you read this important information about how internal internship costs are arranged.

Previous intern projects have involved:

designing activities to enhance student engagement
creating online outreach and learning activities for local schools
auditing marketing channels and creating new content to support departmental outreach and recruitment
evaluating inclusion and diversity in the curriculum
reviewing the accessibility of learning resources
providing research assistance and data analysis support for existing projects

If you have any questions please email the Placements Team at careers-placements@york.ac.uk.

Funding

There is Access and Participation Plan (APP) funding to cover 50% of the cost of a project up to a maximum of £1500. Each department can express an interest in accessing funding for up to two interns.

Alternatively, departments are able to recruit student interns using their own funding on the condition that this expenditure has been approved by their Management Accountant. Departments are very welcome to submit more than two projects if they wish to fund from their own resources.

YCEDE Research Internships

As a member of the Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education (YCEDE) the University has access to resources to support a number of fully funded undergraduate research internships. Each internship should provide insight into the day-to-day experience of postgraduate research; enabling the participants to gain the confidence and skills that will enhance both their CVs and any future postgraduate applications.

YCEDE funded projects are open to applications from undergraduate and postgraduate taught students from the universities of York, Bradford, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam and Leeds, who are from BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) backgrounds. Due to the funding criteria please be aware that only UK students are eligible to apply. Any suitable project is potentially eligible to receive funding, however, departments are invited to consider how the student’s lived experience might influence the terms of reference for any specific project they might be considering.

Administered through Careers and Placements, YCEDE funded projects should be scheduled at some point in the summer vacation period for a maximum of 140 hours. Please note that this funding is additional to APP supported projects; it is therefore possible to submit a project idea even if your department has already requested its allocation of internships under the APP budget.

How to apply

If you wish to apply for APP or YCEDE funding, please submit an Expression of Interest form by Monday 31 March, which can be found under the 'Expressions of Interest forms' drop-down further up the page.
There is space on the form to indicate whether you are applying for APP funding, YCEDE funding, or self-funding.

APP funding will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis. YCEDE project applications will be reviewed after 31 March and funding allocated at that point; Successful YCEDE project hosts will then be informed of the application outcome.

The full recruitment process can take up to six weeks in total. The above deadlines allow for this.

If you have any questions please email the Placements Team at careers-placements@york.ac.uk.