The Student Business Partnership Scheme (SBP)

We're celebrating employers who go above and beyond to offer impactful opportunities to Exeter students and graduates through our Employer of the Month initiative.

Each month, we review staff and student feedback to highlight an outstanding employer. Winners are recognised and promoted as exemplary partners to both our student community and local businesses.

November 2025

CT Partners | Mark Curtis

Exeter alumnus and founder of CT Partners, Mark Curtis, has been an active supporter of student development, offering valuable internship opportunities in investment and hedge fund management. Mark also gives back as a mentor through the University’s Career Mentor Scheme and recently supported the 2025 Employment Awards as both a judge and sponsor of the Leadership category.

January 2025

CRM Champion

CRM Champion's CEO, Rob Perry, has regularly supported students through employment and invaluable experiences as well as engaging with the University's employer engagement initiatives that help to create more opportunities for students in the local community.

July 2024

The Mare and Foal Sanctuary

The Sanctuary have regularly participated in the annual Professional Pathways programme and supported Exeter students to develop important employability skills through internships.

March 2024

Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM)

The RAMM have supported internships for many years offering employment to underrepresented students through the Access to Internships (A2i) scheme. They have also regularly engaged with the annual Professional Pathways programme by volunteering staff to deliver training.

December 2023

Joanne Manville Virtual Assistance

Joanne Manville has continuously supported internships, providing valuable development opportunities to students. They have also promoted the Student Business Partnership scheme to other businesses in the local community.

Learn about Joanne Manville's experience with the University's Internship Scheme in her blog

October 2023

APIsFirst

Recognised for their the continued support of student internships, career mentoring, and contributions to Exeter's student employment service.

Why hire an intern?

• Gain fresh ideas and a new perspective
• Get support with projects and challenging tasks
• Flexible hours and internship duration
• Great development opportunity for your team through training and supervision
• Help students build employability skills in a supportive setting
• Connect with the future workforce
• Strengthen your long-term recruitment pipeline

Advertising Your Vacancy

The team will advertise your vacancy to current Exeter students through the SBP scheme as a recommended employer. 

You are invited to contact the team at studentemployment@exeter.ac.uk or call 01392 722617.  A conversation with you will allow us to learn more about the resource you need so we can take you through the options and next steps. 

Phone lines are monitored 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday. If the team aren't able to take your call, you can leave a message.

Promoting Your Vacancy

The team will advertise and promote your vacancy using:

• Handshake - the University's dedicated careers portal.
• Targeted emails to students which can be based on faculty, degree discipline, and year of study.
• Social media - via the Career Zone LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok accounts.
• The Weekly Internships Bulletin which is sent to thousands of student subscribers in Exeter and Penryn.
• Employability Officers throughout the university who can promote to students.
• The 'What's On' weekly employability e-newsletter sent to all students during term-time.
• Careers Fairs such as the Student Employment Fair, and the Careers and Placements Fair (Exeter), plus the Careers and Opportunities Fair (Penryn).

To protect study time, the following guidelines apply to part-time jobs.

Undergraduate (UG) students

• UG students can work up to 15 hours per week during term-time.
• During the holidays, they can work full-time hours.

Postgraduate (PG) students

• PG students can work up to a maximum of 6 hours per week during term-time and during the holidays.
• They may be able to work more hours if they seek written permission from their academic.

Applications

• Applying students will be asked to complete the Internship Application Form and apply through the university's career platform, Handshake.
• On average you can expect to receive between 5-20 applications.
• The team will check all applications and will highlight useful information such as, candidates who have declared a disability and students who have restricted working hours.
• We will send you all the applications by email the day after the closing date.

 Shortlisting

• The employer shortlists the applications. You may find it helpful to use the Shortlisting Scoring Grid.
• As the University of Exeter is a 'Disability Confident' organisation, we ask that you interview all applicants who have declared a disability and who meet the essential criteria for the role.

 Inviting to Interview

• We suggest inviting 5-6 candidates to interview.
• The employer invites the shortlisted candidates to interview as soon as possible. We tell students to expect to hear if they have been shortlisted 5 days before the scheduled interview date.
• When inviting your candidates to interview please ask them to share the Right to Work (RTW) evidence with you. You can learn more about RTW evidence here - Employer Guidance - Verifying RTW in the UK. 
• For the candidates you do not wish to call to interview we ask you let them know as soon as possible by email‌. Alternatively the Internship Team can do this for you.

Conducting the Interview

• You can carry out interviews in-person or online using Teams, Zoom or similar.
• Assess each candidate against the person specification criteria you have provided in the job advert. You may wish to use the Interview Scoring Grid for this purpose.
• You can include short assessment activities as part of the interview process which is useful if you are looking for a particular level of skill.  For example, manipulating data in a spreadsheet or writing a short communication with a client.
• We ask that you contact candidates who have not been successful at interview and offer constructive feedback if requested.
• Please check all candidates right to work evidence during the interview (see below)

Right to Work

• All students are required to provide Right to Work evidence to employers.
• For more details read the Employer Guidance - Verifying RTW in the UK

Communicating the Interview Outcome

• At the end of the interview, let the candidates know when you will be in touch to let them know the outcome of the interview. This should take place within 3 days of the interview.
• When you contact the successful candidate to offer them the job, ask them to confirm they would like to accept and agree a start date. 
• For the unsuccessful candidates we ask that you offer constructive feedback. Students will benefit from learning about what went well during interview and any areas where they could improve. If you thought they were appointable (just not the top candidate), please let them know!
• For further information, you can view our Guidance on Informing Candidates of Interview Outcome. 

References

• As the employer, it is at your discretion if you decide to take up references.  If you wish to do so, you may like to use the ‌Reference Template 
• Please ensure that any references not required after appointment, are destroyed or retained, as applicable, in accordance with GDPR

Retaining Interview Evidence

We recommend you retain evidence of scoring and selection for all the candidates you interview for 6 months, after which time you can destroy or delete.

Once your chosen candidate has accepted the role, we’ll ask you to complete the SBP Appointment Form. You’ll then issue the Contract of Employment directly to the intern.

Please note: interns must be employed, not self-employed. For more details, visit the HMRC website.

It's important to provide your intern with a structured induction to cover the basics about your Company, important information, and to set expectations.  An induction should be completed as soon as possible when your intern starts work to ensure everyone gets off to the best start. Your induction should cover:

• How your intern will be paid
• Health and Safety (in the office or at home if working remotely)
• IT systems, security, and the software that will be used 
• Your Company's background, mission and aims
• An introduction to other members of staff
• Expectations of working hours and working patterns
• The support and training that will be provided
• The frequency of 1:1 meetings to review progress
• Contacts details for the interns line manager or other staff who can support

Support for Employers

• When you let us know you have appointed, the Internships Team will send you guidance to help with the next steps.
• The team will contact you at regular intervals via email to check how the internship is going.
• Support and guidance is available to you throughout the internship.  You can call 01392 722617 to speak to one of the team.

Support for Interns

• You shoud arrange to have regular catch-ups with your intern to review their progress and provide feedback.
• Your input and support is an invaluable resource to students who are at the early stage of their careers.
• Interns are offered 1:1 support from the Internships team
• The team will contact your intern at regular intervals via email to check how the internship is going.

For further advice, contact the team at internships@exeter.ac.uk

We ask employers to set clear objectives, and review and evaluate progress with your intern. You have the option to use ourInternship PDR form‌ paperwork, or use your current internal performance indicators.

If your intern is leaving, here are a few actions to take:

1. If resigning, forward the resignation to internships@exeter.ac.uk so the team are aware.
2. Ensure all provided property and equipment is returned e.g. laptops, mobile phones, keys to buildings/offices etc. 
3. Complete an evaluation of the Internship. The Internships Team will send you and your intern a feedback form to complete towards the end of the internship. 
   
4. If your intern has had access to any company systems or shared drives please ensure this access is removed.
5. Ensure you issue your intern with a P45.

Your feedback is important to us. This is used to improve our service and with permission, we may use your feedback for marketing purposes. The team will send you a link to the feedback form and we thank you in advance for taking the time to complete this.

The university has other schemes you can explore to support student training, employment, and funding:

Access to Internships (A2i) provides funding to students from underrepresented backgrounds so they can create their own internship.

Professional Pathways is a popular yearly scheme that takes students through employer-led training and a funded internship with a local business.

The Graduate Business Partnership is similar to the SBP scheme but is aimed at recruiting graduates into early career roles.

You can view the feedback from other employers who have used the SBP scheme through the case study portal.

The University recommends the National Living Wage of £12.60 per hour.  Most roles advertised for local employers range between £12.60-£15.00 per hour. When setting the rate of pay for your role, you should consider the pay expectations in your sector, and the location of your business.

For further guidance, contact the team at studentemployment@exeter.ac.uk or visit the government pages for the National Minimum Wage. 

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