We hear from our friends at The Entrepreneurship Centre at Saïd Business School that the Oxford Summer Internship Programme (OxSI) has successfully matched a group of local 16-19 year old school pupils and FE students with 14 startup teams from the Oxford area.  Each student will be working with ventures in areas as diverse as merchandise retailing, events companies, 3D image projection and financial forecasting, for a minimum of 2 weeks during the school holidays.

The programme provides students with a valuable opportunity to enhance employability skills and gain hands-on experience and insight into what it’s like to be entrepreneurial and work with a dynamic startup team.  In this way, they can add something outstanding to their personal statements when applying for a University place.  The extra support provided by the students helps the startups to remain innovative, and provides a means for them to invest in their local community. Win-win.

Zelga Anderson, Head of Operations at the Entrepreneurship Centre commented, “It’s an obvious fit – the startups and the students each get a huge amount from the experience. The number and calibre of applicants and participating startups this summer shows that Oxford is clearly establishing itself as a UK enterprise hub. ”

For more information, visit the OxSI website or contact hello@oxsiprogramme.co.uk