Funded Internships

As part of our Access and Participation Plan, Kent is committed to supporting students from widening participation backgrounds to build confidence, skills and experience through our EMPOWER programme. Part of this commitment is providing work experience and internship opportunities that develop skills that students can add to their CV.

We are making available funding for up to 50 internships in Kent Academic Schools and Professional Service Departments that meet the following criteria;

  • The internship develops graduate level skills such as
    • Communication (written, verbal, stakeholder-facing)
    • Data analysis or research
    • Problem-solving and initiative
    • Project planning and delivery
    • Digital or technical skills
  • The internship has clear outputs/parameters that can be added to a CV
  • The internship must not replace a substantive role, but can support ongoing work
  • There must be ongoing supervision and feedback
  • Recruiting departments must give full application and interview feedback to all student applicants.

Internships where departments are also contributing financially will be prioritised.

Each internship will attract funding of up to £1,000, with a maximum of 5 internships per School/team. The internships must be completed by 31st July 2026.

High-quality internships will typically include:

  • Meaningful project-based work (not just administrative tasks)
  • Opportunities for the student to take ownership
  • Exposure to real-world processes, tools, or stakeholders
  • Regular feedback and reflection opportunities 


The Careers and Employability Service will advertise all roles only to those students who are eligible to participate, and will help with onboarding, including Right-to-Work checks and setting them up with staff accounts.

To apply for this funding, please complete this form EMPOWER Funded Internship Application (2025–26) – Fill in form. Successful applications will then be supported in developing a full job description to be used for recruitment.

To help with budgeting, most students will be paid at £12.43 (including holiday uplift), though students aged 21+ will attract a rate of £14.56. This must not factor in to your decision making processes, but is instructional for budgeting purposes, and it is best practice to budget at the higher rate.

For support with the process, questions, or enquiries, please email jihc2@kent.ac.uk.

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