Are you a SME, based in County Durham? Would your business benefit from the support of a Durham University intern?
If so, you could benefit from the Durham SME internship programme, brought to you as part of the ERDF ‘Durham Internships and Collaborative Enterprise’ “DICE” project which aims to provide business growth in small or medium enterprises (SMEs) based in County Durham.
Match funded, DICE internships can give your business access to high level skills with low financial risk, with the benefit of guidance and support with the recruitment process.
Project offer from Durham University:
- Benefit from the up-to-date knowledge and high-level skills of Durham University student(s) during the 5-week Easter vacation period (20th March- 21st April)
- Eligible SMEs will be given 50/50 match funding for each internship, based on a salary of £18,500 per annum (e.g. £1,778.84 payment to intern and £889.42 grant to SME for 5 weeks FTE)
- Flexible internships offer; SMEs can recruit multiple interns, for up to 5 weeks FTE per intern (e.g. 3 x 4 week internships)
- Full support provided with the recruitment and selection process
- Guidance on all information that must be retained under ERDF guidelines
Project eligibility:
- You must not have already benefitted from the DICE SME internships grant.
- You must be a SME as defined by the EU (up to 250 employees and annual turnover does not exceed €50 million). This includes social enterprises engaged in economic activity.
- You must be based within County Durham
- Your business must not be within a sector which is not eligible for ERDF funding.
- Internships must offer a developmental, graduate level work experience to the intern.
- SMEs must provide required evidence of payment to the intern(s) to Durham University before 1st May 2023, to receive the grant.
SME applications are open now; deadline of 3rd March to apply.
Application process:
Please email the DICE Project team at sme.internships@durham.ac.uk for more information and an application pack.
Source: Durham University
