Many of us take it for granted that most students do an Internship at some point in their career, but we noticed that there isn’t actually a lot of data to back that up. 

We wanted to find that data – here’s what we discovered.

The Headline Figures

You can check out our report, including a full breakdown of each university, here. But our headline figures reveal:

– Only 8.7% of UK students take on an internship – meaning 91.3% of students enter the workplace without any experience at all!
– By contrast, the internship rate among students at the top 10 universities is 19% – over double.
– Whereas the internship rate for the bottom 10 universities is 5%. In other words, there is a significant correlation between university rank and the likelihood of undertaking an internship.
– The UK university with the highest internship rate is the London School of Economics, at 30%.
– The UK universities with the lowest internship rate are the University of Bolton and Teeside University, both at 3%.
– The combined Oxbridge internship rate is 16.5%.
– London is the region with the highest internship rate, at 12%.

Why did we want to measure the UK internship rate?

Internships are a key part of the UK economy, but the data around them is surprisingly sparse. As a provider of international internships, we’re always interested in learning more!

That’s why we drew on the LinkedIn data of over twelve million students to build one of the most comprehensive breakdowns anywhere.

As well as the internship rates of each UK university, we also wanted to see whether there was a correlation between university ranking and internship rate. On the face of it, there should be no connection – but it’s clear that the higher ranked a university, the more likely students are to take an internship.

We think it’s important that universities, students and businesses alike should be able to make informed decisions. They can only do so with specific, accurate data.

What do we want to do about it?

To put it bluntly, we think that the UK’s internship rate is too low, and the internships that do exist are unevenly distributed.

Internships allow students to get the hands-on skills they need before entering the workforce. It makes them more efficient, more productive, and better teammates. Best of all, they don’t discriminate based on academic achievement, meaning everyone has the chance to succeed.

And our own research has shown that they also have a material effect on career progression – with the average intern progressing to directorial positions around 35% faster than their peers.

The UK is suffering a skills shortage, and productivity is low. Internships are one of the keys to overcoming these problems – by empowering young people with the skills and insights they need to thrive.

That benefits businesses, employees, and consumers. And that has a positive knock-on effect on the UK economy.

So as it stands, the current internship market is not fit for purpose. That’s why we’re calling for the UK to achieve a 20% internship rate by 2025. We think that this goal strikes the right balance between urgency and attainability, helping to boost UK growth as we move into the next decade. 

And with those internships evenly spread across the country, it means those from all academic backgrounds are allowed a shot at success.

Read our full report here.

The post Beyond Academy finds UK graduate internship rate to be 8.7% appeared first on Beyond Academy.

The post Beyond Academy finds UK graduate internship rate to be 8.7% appeared first on Beyond Academy.