88% of Paid Summer Internships Lead to Employment

As reported this summer, the Higher Education Funding Council for England awarded funding to Central School of Speech & Drama so that 30 students could be paid for internships within the industry. It is now possible to report that 88% of these internships led to future employment – proof of their impact on graduates’ prospects.

These students, coming from low income backgrounds, would not have been able to undertake these placements without the funding. Not having the ‘real world’ experience that comes with the traditionally unpaid placements would have put them at a disadvantage in the job market.

During the combined 5,000 hours of work with theatres, local communities, health organisations, and film companies, the interns achieved much for their placement hosts: successful marketing strategies, designing a new stage management area, increasing theatre revenue by 30%, and working with the Terrence Higgins Trust, to name a few.

This programme directly supported Central’s ongoing commitment to widening participation and the conviction that the creative industries should be accessible by people from all backgrounds.