AGCAS welcomes graduate internship scheme

New government plans to offer graduate internships to those on jobseeker's allowance have been welcomed by the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS).

The aim of the scheme is to allow graduates to gain important skills to boost their employability during the economic downturn.

Elspeth Farrar, Vice President of AGCAS, said the idea could be a good way of bringing graduates and companies together.

'This is all terribly dependent on the employers providing sensible internships,' she commented. 'It's not going to be any advantage to students to do internships where they are not getting any value.'

According to a National Union of Students survey published last month, 80 per cent of those questioned said they were either concerned or very concerned about their future prospects of finding a job.

Meanwhile, nearly one-third of students said they are most likely to go into post-graduate study as soon as they graduate from university.