21 October 2020
Dear University Partners,
The Federal Budget confirmed productivity will play a critical role in Australia’s recovery from COVID-19, and that linking higher education and industry is now a national priority.
The National Priorities and Industry Linkages Fund consultation paper lays out the Government priorities for university graduates, which align perfectly with APR.Intern’s mandate and the PhD internship program we have delivered under the Australian Government’s National Research Internships Program since 2017:
- Increase the number of internships, practicums and other innovative approaches to WIL
- Increase the number of STEM skilled graduates and improve their employment outcomes
- Support universities for the development of partnerships and collaborations with industry
APR.Intern continues to offer a sophisticated, flexible national PhD internship program; having worked with all leading Australian universities to place more than 400 PhD students into industry.
I am delighted to announce APR.Intern is now able to make those linkages even easier.
As of 20 October 2020, the APR.Intern program has been extended, with internships able to be signed up until 31 March 2021 for completion by 31 August 2021. If you have PhD students interested in gaining work-ready skills through a paid industry research project, I encourage you to share program information with them – internships are available Australia-wide.
A 90% industry rebate is now also available to businesses that execute an internship with a domestic PhD student under the National Research Internships Program from 20 October 2020 (inclusive). This brings down the industry cost of a 3-month research project to just $2,000.
Additionally, from 1 January 2021, we will again be able to offer internships to international students under the National Research Internships Program. These will attract a 50% rebate.
These changes will:
- Continue to provide a simple, accessible PhD internship program for your students, at scale
- Improve employability outcomes (41% of interns are offered employment post-internship)
- Increase university collaboration with start-ups, SMEs, government, large corporates and multinationals (89% of internships are with industry partners new to the intern’s university)
- Continue to strengthen the development of job-ready PhD graduates
- Continue to focus on STEM and support more women into STEM careers
- Provide continued access to APR.Intern’s national marketing of PhD students to industry
- Provide continued access to APR.Intern’s national business development network
- Provide universities with access to data reflecting student and industry sentiment
During the Pandemic, we have seen industry demand grow for cost-effective, rapid R&D solutions. Many projects have successfully moved to remote arrangements, and we are able to offer both on-site and remote internships to accommodate circumstances.
The 90% rebate on domestic PhD student placements is available as of 20 October 2020, and the 50% rebate on international student placements from 1 January 2021. Please share this news with department heads and colleagues. For more information, see our Costs & Rebates page or contact me directly on lisa.farrar@aprintern.org.au.
APR.Intern has created a high-quality and proven internship model, and we look forward to connecting even more businesses with Australia’s world-class university research sector.
Thank you for your ongoing support.
Warm regards,
Lisa Farrar
National Program Manager
APR.Intern
