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Unpaid Internships for students/graduates
Jan. 30th, 2006 11:06 amBBC News 24 carried the story today (30 Jan 2006) a follow-up to their story of Jun 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4623333.stm on Tony Blair's son Euan working as an unpaid intern for senior politicians in the US. Today's story included a wider look at the concept of internships. For those who don't know these are unpaid jobs which offer a benefit to both "employer" and intern. The employer gains a bright worker who doesn't need paying and the intern gains valuable experience which will give them a leg up in certain professions, particularly in politics.
The report from the BBC today featured an interview with a graduate recruiter who implied that the best jobs are more or less now only available to those graduates with significant experience, usually if not exclusively gained via an internship.
The recent changes to funding of HE in the UK were highly controversial. The most controversial aspect centred on whether potential students from families with low incomes would be put off going into University by the size of the loan they would graduate with. The arguments put forward for the new fees regime included claims that a degree provides graduates with a significant monetary return (speaking as an academic who is probably about to enter a significant dispute over our pay I can assure everyone that my four degrees have not generated a pay premium - on the contrary compared to my brother who did not complete a degree my lifetime earnings are well below someone with similar abilities without any degree). If the best jobs are only available to those who can afford (i.e. those who have well-off parents who can subsidise them for up to a year living away from home for no pay).
At a time when his government, pushed to the brink of defeat despite a huge parliamentary majority, introduced enormous debts for future graduates, for Tony Blair to be taking part in this corrupt and class-ridden system of unpaid internships, is frankly disgusting.
My School (School of Systems Engineering at The University of Reading) runs a number of sandwich courses with a year spent on placement gaining work experience. Unlike some other such courses we do not accept unpaid internships as valid. Our students are worth more than that. Their skills and abilities, even at the end of second year, are worth being paid at a reasonable rate. At the same time that his government introduced a national minimum wage for most workers, Tony Blair is involved in encouraging not only a low-pay culture, but a no-pay culture for our best and brightest. Not only is this insulting to the young people concerned, it is also a divisive and non-meritocratic measure in the graduate job market. It removes any chance of a level playing field by barring many graduates, who need to work during term time and all "vacations" just to make ends meet, from the best and most influential jobs. This is creating a new self-sustaining political and business elite class and should be deplored.
The report from the BBC today featured an interview with a graduate recruiter who implied that the best jobs are more or less now only available to those graduates with significant experience, usually if not exclusively gained via an internship.
The recent changes to funding of HE in the UK were highly controversial. The most controversial aspect centred on whether potential students from families with low incomes would be put off going into University by the size of the loan they would graduate with. The arguments put forward for the new fees regime included claims that a degree provides graduates with a significant monetary return (speaking as an academic who is probably about to enter a significant dispute over our pay I can assure everyone that my four degrees have not generated a pay premium - on the contrary compared to my brother who did not complete a degree my lifetime earnings are well below someone with similar abilities without any degree). If the best jobs are only available to those who can afford (i.e. those who have well-off parents who can subsidise them for up to a year living away from home for no pay).
At a time when his government, pushed to the brink of defeat despite a huge parliamentary majority, introduced enormous debts for future graduates, for Tony Blair to be taking part in this corrupt and class-ridden system of unpaid internships, is frankly disgusting.
My School (School of Systems Engineering at The University of Reading) runs a number of sandwich courses with a year spent on placement gaining work experience. Unlike some other such courses we do not accept unpaid internships as valid. Our students are worth more than that. Their skills and abilities, even at the end of second year, are worth being paid at a reasonable rate. At the same time that his government introduced a national minimum wage for most workers, Tony Blair is involved in encouraging not only a low-pay culture, but a no-pay culture for our best and brightest. Not only is this insulting to the young people concerned, it is also a divisive and non-meritocratic measure in the graduate job market. It removes any chance of a level playing field by barring many graduates, who need to work during term time and all "vacations" just to make ends meet, from the best and most influential jobs. This is creating a new self-sustaining political and business elite class and should be deplored.
