Low Carbon Opportunities for Graduates

Low carbon vehicle and marine energy industries are to benefit from a new placement scheme that will see more talented graduates enter this key sector, putting their new skills to use while gaining vital career experience.

Speaking at the UUK conference David Lammy announced the creation of the Low Carbon Future Leaders placement scheme, a Backing Young Britain initiative that will give 1,500 graduates the opportunity to work and gain paid work experience in a sector that will be providing the jobs for the future.

Graduates will work with businesses to help raise awareness of technological developments and new business opportunities while gaining work experience in these emerging industries.

David Lammy, Minister of State for Higher Education said:

“Our young people are key to the UK’s future success in winning the jobs of the future, which is why we have created the Future Leaders initiative. This will give graduates opportunities in a fast growing and increasingly important industry, improving their future job prospects while providing businesses with their specialist knowledge and skills.

“Backing Young Britain is not just a response to the recession but an investment in our future. This is why we launched the Graduate Talent Pool, matching graduates to more than 5,000 internships and announced 47,000 new jobs for young people as part of the Future Jobs Fund. We also made an additional 10,000 university places available this year for STEM subjects to ensure we continue to provide highly skilled individuals for these sectors.”

The Low Carbon Future Leaders sits alongside the thousands of other opportunities available to new graduates that will help them improve their chances to get a long term and well paid career. These include:

· Over 5,000 internships through the Graduate Talent Pool matching service;

· Around 24,000 additional postgraduate places - supported by extra Professional and Career Development Loans next year;

· 250 short term placements through Mini Knowledge Transfer partnerships, rising to 500 in 2010/11;

· Thousands of existing volunteering options available through “V”, an organisation aimed at young people between 16-25, and other voluntary organisations;

· 500 teach first opportunities in 2009, up 130 from 2008.

This initiative is part of the Backing Young Britain campaign which is providing funding of £40m for new internships and work placements for graduates and 10,000 places for non-graduates. This funding will support the development of a new mentoring network to help young people find their feet in a tough jobs market and offer more help from day one of unemployment through job clubs and 1-2-1 support.

HEFCE will work with universities and regional partners to determine the most effective way of implementing the initiative.