Knowledge Exchange Internships

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Teesside University has an excellent reputation for offering practical and results driven solutions for business. Our Knowledge Exchange Internships give you a unique chance to engage with academic and specialist experts, with part funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

A Knowledge Exchange Internship embeds a graduate in your organisation for six to twelve months to work on a specific project. What makes the model distinctive is the academic supervision: a University specialist works alongside the graduate and your team, directing the project and advising as it develops.

Benefits to you

• Access to graduate talent with the skills your project needs
• Academic supervision from Teesside University specialists
• Part funding from the European Regional Development Fund
• A defined project that delivers something tangible for the business
• New capability and knowledge that stays with your team after the placement ends

Where it has worked

Internships have been used to bring product design and development in house, to implement enterprise resource planning software, to build software development skills, and to grow online sales through a focused digital marketing strategy.

At WhiteWash Laboratories, a graduate placement focused on online and digital marketing. Within a six month period online sales rose by 67 per cent, website traffic increased by 177 per cent, the social media following grew by 78 per cent and sales from email marketing rose by 140 per cent. Read the full story in the WhiteWash Laboratories case study.

At NYMAS two internships ran alongside each other: one on new product design and design processes, and one on enterprise resource planning. Read how the internships supported future growth. At Silent Sensors, the internship helped two electronic engineers develop software skills with a principal lecturer, moving a product towards market. Read the Silent Sensors story.

The Knowledge Exchange Internship has been great and our digital marketing campaigns have been extremely effective. The whole project has brought so much more to the company than what we expected.

Tom Riley, Managing Director, WhiteWash Laboratories

Graduate recruitment support

For a limited period, Innovate Durham has increased the financial support available for graduate recruitment. Eligible businesses can receive 50 per cent of the cost of taking on a graduate for the first six months, regardless of salary level. Read the announcement about the increased subsidy for the detail.

To be eligible, businesses must be growth oriented, based in County Durham, employ fewer than 250 staff and have an annual turnover of no greater than €50m per annum.