Watch the video 'Moving Forward' for an overview of Internships

Internships take place in the summer between the two years of the course. Employers provide a six-week paid work placement, based on a standard working hour week in a real operating environment and aiming to use the skills and knowledge the student has learned in school / college.

Internships are neither the traditional ‘work experience’ offered to 15 and 16 year olds, nor mini versions of undergraduate schemes. Still adolescents rather than graduates, Academy students may have had less opportunity to develop workplace skills and are likely to need more support and training. Yet - with a year’s business study under their belt – they can make a real contribution to the organisation, especially as the six weeks progress. Host companies also report that working with Academy interns enhances staff development or approaches to employee diversity.

During the induction we were told to treat our intern like we would any other member of the team. Initially I thought that this would be very difficult but he settled in very quickly and soon became ‘one of us’. It was such a privilege to be able to watch our intern’s confidence grow each week that he wpend with us along with the knowledge he was gaining of the Financial Services Industry.” Dion Allday, St. James’s Place.