On Wednesday 13 October, Queen Mary staff gathered with both the 2020 and 2021 cohorts of Project SEARCH interns and their families to celebrate the achievements of the programme’s participants.
Project SEARCH is a supported internship for young adults with learning disabilities and/or autism. It is a unique business led, one-year education-to-work programme that takes place entirely in the workplace. The aim of the programme - entering its third year of running at Queen Mary - is for interns to be fully immersed into workplace culture and learn valuable skills that can enhance their future job prospects.
Among the many achievements of those involved in the programme, the 2020 cohort celebrates a 100 per cent employment rate on completion of their internships.
Matt Snow, Project SEARCH Tutor, said:
“As restrictions are lifted, we have finally able to celebrate the achievements and successes of all interns who have been part of Project SEARCH at Queen Mary between 2019-2021. We are also able to recognise the amazing work departments do in supporting the interns through the year as - without them - the interns won’t be able to access the real life work experience available to them.”
In 2019, we caught up with Project SEARCH intern Yusuf, who describes a day in the life on one of his four job placement rotations and explains how the programme has helped him build skills to progress his career. Read about Yusuf’s experience of completing his internship.
Mike Wojcik, CEO and Managing Director of Queen Mary’s Students’ Union, said:
“Working with and as part of the community is at the heart of what Queen Mary is about. The Project SEARCH programme really captures the importance of strong partnerships. It’s been fantastic to see the incredible progress that all our interns have made, with the end result that we’ve helped to set young people up for the future.”
Queen Mary was the first London university to host a Project SEARCH programme, delivered in partnership with Tower Hamlets, Phoenix School and the supported employment service Kaleidoscope Sabre, launched at the University in 2020. Learn more about Project SEARCH at Queen Mary.