ESSEX businesses are being offered an affordable way to grow during the recession, through an Anglia Ruskin University internship programme.

The scheme is open to anyone eligible to work in the UK who has graduated in the past two years, or is in the penultimate year of a degree course.

Internships can run for four to 12 weeks, and Anglia Ruskin believes they can enable many hard-pressed businesses to undertake projects with the potential to boost their performance significantly.

Dr Saher Ahmed. from Anglia Ruskin’s research, development and commercial services, said: “Anglia Ruskin’s internship programme offers companies based in Essex the opportunity to work with a high-calibre graduate or penultimate-year student on a placement for up to 12 weeks.

“Our internship programme allows companies to expand their workforce for special projects or short-term assignments, without the long-term commitment.

“The highly-trained and motivated interns can help with a wide variety of projects, such as setting up IT systems and websites, writing marketing and business plans, or designing company literature, and are likely to be much more cost-effective than hiring a temp.

“The scheme helps undergraduates and graduates gain relevant business skills and experience to improve their employability, and can ultimately help them into long-term graduate-level employment. It also helps to ensure more talented young people remain in the region after graduation, which is of enormous benefit to the local economy.”

Anglia Ruskin administers the entire programme, including advertising the vacancy, shortlisting, contracts and remuneration. The cost to the company is �250 plus VAT per week, with the intern receiving a weekly wage of �225 (tax and NI exempt).

For further information about the scheme, email internships@anglia.ac.uk or call 0845 196 3177.