Reflecting on Warwick Undergraduate Internship Programme 2015
Twelve penultimate year students from across Warwick have successfully completed 8-week internships this summer as part of the Warwick Undergraduate Internships Programme (WUIP), gaining valuable experience and making a difference across campus.
Offered by a wide cross-section of administrative and academic departments, the project-based placements provide an opportunity to do real work, contributing to the delivery of key services across the University.
At the end of their placements, the interns and their line managers attended a celebration event with Ken Sloan, Registrar, where the interns gave PechaKucha-style presentations reflecting on their experiences and exploring the idea of implementing graduate development programmes in the Higher Education sector.
Zach Gold, the Postgraduate Student Engagement intern with the Centre for Arts Doctoral Research Excellence, shared:
The eight weeks at WUIP was a journey in itself. As students we only see the duck gliding across the river and we are never privy to what is happening underneath, but as I became more involved in my internship I started to grasp how much work and coordination happens underneath the surface. My internship and my role kept me on my toes, kept me challenged... which is especially why I enjoyed it. I felt that the experience as a whole was absolutely invaluable and going forward I feel I am more than ready now to tackle any new challenges I face in my future career."
WUIP 2015 interns with Ken Sloan, Registrar.
Contribution to the University
The strategically-targeted administrative internships made a valuable contribution to the University’s summer activities, with active and positive engagement from interns and line managers resulting in host departments offering internship extensions to an unprecedented eight out of the twelve interns.
One of WUIP’s core aims is to promote Higher Education as potential graduate destination – something that this year’s interns responded to with an overwhelming movement towards including HE in their future career considerations.
Supporting WUIP interns
Online electronic portfolio platform MyPortfolio has been integral in supporting a virtual learning and development environment, providing the space for interns to capture and reflect on their learning and WUIP journey, with additional reflection support from Student Careers & Skills and the Centre for Applied Linguistics.
Collaboration
Supported by the University’s Senior Management Team, the programme is a positive example of ‘Simplify, Collaborate, Deliver’ - the induction programme included speakers from HR, SARO, CCSG and Warwick SU and delivery rested on collaboration between Student Careers & Skills, HR and host academic and administrative departments.
Line managers on the impact of the internships
"By the end of the internship [the intern] was making nuanced user-centred design decisions, taking ownership of problems and behaving in a way that professionally I would expect to see only after being in the industry for a year or more. Her work output has and will continue to influence the way we develop our products in the future and the way we communicate as a team."
Robert Powell, IT Services
"The positive outcomes of the programme for us included the opportunity to have a young person bringing their enthusiasm to the team, and a different perspective, which feeds into the development and implementation of our strategic objectives. It was also good to have the possibility of developing a mentoring role with a student and see them flourish professionally and personally."
Alice Panepinto, School of Law
"As a result of our intern's work, we are able to make immediate changes to our websites (especially PG Study); start evaluating options for virtual open days; develop proposals for mentorship; build on what we know currently works in our tours and external promotion; and explore fixes to the applicant journey diagnosed through scenario work. And lots more!"
Stephen Soames, SARO