Innovation in Higher Level Skills

An employer-led approach to business engagement
Innovation in Higher Level Skills

The ESF Innovation in Higher Level Skills project is a collaborative project led by Truro and Penwith College, in partnership with The Cornwall College Group, the University of Exeter, Falmouth University and the University of Plymouth and has secured £1.97 million from the European Social Fund.

The project aims to engage with SMEs and micro businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly to identify skills gaps and the demands for new CPD and degree-level apprenticeship provision, provide an opportunity for the co-design and piloting of new provisions to address skills gaps, offer 1:1 support and deliver a virtual internship programme to support and resolve business issues.

Virtual Internship Programme

The project is placing students in eligible businesses for a six-week internship conducted entirely online due to the restrictions imposed by COVID-19. Grants of up to £1,000 will be available to students.

The programme seeks to provide students with new skills, career confidence and experience, while businesses will benefit from having higher-level skilled students who can resolve identified business issues or needs.

Businesses or students who wish to register their interest in the virtual internship programme should complete the appropriate registration form:

Our team

The project is receiving up to £1.97 million of funding from the European Social Fund as part of the 2014–2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth programme in England. The Department for Work and Pensions (and in London, the Greater London Authority intermediate body) is the managing authority for the England European Social Fund programme. Established by the European Union, the European Social Fund helps local areas to stimulate their economic development by investing in projects that will support skills development, employment and job creation, social inclusion and local community regeneration.

Virtual Student Internship programme for Cornish and Isles of Scilly businesses

The University of Plymouth has joined with education providers in the region to run an innovative project that will provide SMEs and micro-businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly with the opportunity to benefit from a funded ‘virtual internship’ with grants of up to £1,000 available to the student.

The ESF Innovation in Higher Level Skills project, part-funded by the European Social Fund, is placing undergraduates in eligible businesses for a six-week internship conducted entirely online due to the restrictions imposed by COVID-19.

The programme is seeking to provide students with new skills, career confidence, and experience, while businesses will benefit from having a higher-level skilled student who can be set to work upon ‘live’ projects and tasks.

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<p>Virtual internships</p>
<p>Jake Gibson Shaw-Sutton with one of the Robotriks platforms in labs at the University of Plymouth (Credit University of Plymouth)<br></p>

Cutting edge agricultural robots offer a low-cost lifeline to UK farmers

Senior Robotics Technician Jake Shaw-Sutton, and his startup company Robotriks, based near St Austell in Cornwall, have developed the Robotriks Traction Unit, a low-cost robotic platform which can be fitted with almost any agricultural implement and could help farmers across the UK to overcome the lack of available manual labour.

The Robotriks Traction Unit (RTU) costs just £7,000 – almost a tenth of the cost of most other products on the market. Powered by batteries which last for 24 hours, it can be built within a few hours and made available for a range of tasks from crop monitoring to harvesting crops like cauliflowers. 

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