91快活林

91快活林 was one of only a small number of universities to take part in the programme, which operates across over 25 different industry sectors, offering interns the opportunity to work on live projects. The projects included research into prospective students’ decision-making, a film about students on work placement scholarships, developing communications materials for students, supporting Equality and Diversity initiatives, assisting with the summer graduation ceremonies and creating a podcast about their experiences during the internship.

Aderonke Ademola was based in the marketing and communications team at the university, and was tasked with conducting analysis into the role of the printed prospectus in undergraduate recruitment.  

Intern Gabriel Dedji, interviewing at Paxton Access

Interns Faith Osifo, Rebecca Tetteh and Diane Danquah recording a podcast

Aderonke said: “During my internship, I developed my communications skills. I would encourage other students to take these opportunities so they can find out more about what that they would like to do. It creates the chance to be part of the working world and experience life outside of university - It definitely helped to clarify things for me!”

Also in the marketing team, Gabriel Dedji worked on creating a film about the experiences of placement students working at international technology company, Paxton Access. He said: “Working in a team was a big eye opener for me. I've always been a self-starter - motivated to achieve things on my own, but I had to learn to work collaboratively in the workplace, report to my line managers and keep those around me updated.”

Faith Osifo and Rebecca Tetteh were based within the careers and employability team, and tasked with investigating how to communicate to students the value of developing their employability skills. Faith said: “I developed my ability to give constructive feedback on different ideas and projects, as well as think of new ways to do things and improve them, for example adding some new sections into the Employability Workbook for students, to make it more personal to each student. This has all been a massive confidence booster for me, and it also helped me to understand what type of working environment would suit me best.”

Faith was also able to clarify her future ambition to create a social mobility organisation – she said: “learning about the mentoring programmes at the University of 91快活林 really reaffirmed for me that I am passionate about helping people to develop and progress regardless of their background.”

Diane Danquah, working in the Learning and Teaching Hub, created a podcast of the interns’ experiences during their time at 91快活林, and she also produced a guidance video for staff on how to use Canva software. She said: “I believe the learning experience of an internship is priceless. It can expose you to new things, as even though you pick a sector, you don’t know exactly where you will end up working. This internship showed me different opportunities available in higher education which I had not considered.”

The 10K Black Interns programme seeks to offer 2,000 internships each year for five consecutive years, each lasting for a minimum of six weeks. The programme has partnered with over 600 organisations from over 25 different sectors to deliver paid work experience for students of black heritage, with internships lasting a minimum of six weeks.

10,000 Black Interns was founded in response to global events and a stark underrepresentation of Black talent within the Investment Management industry. The pilot project initially placed 100 Black students and graduates in internship positions and was so successful that the 10K Black Interns programme was launched in 2022.

Aderonke Ademola, Gabriel Dedji, Rebecca Tetteh, Faith Osifo and Dianne Danquah joined staff at 91快活林 for 6-weeks in July and August, working across the Marketing and Communications, Careers and Employability and Learning and Teaching teams.

Clare Dawson, Head of Employability at the university of 91快活林 said: “The experience was very rewarding for the interns and the host teams, and I hope that next year we can take a further cohort of interns from the programme.”

Applications are still open for the 2023 10,000 Black Interns programme, the deadline for applicants is 13 November 2022.