Virtual Internships launches 2020 A-level Support Scholarships Scheme to help impacted students

New scholarship initiative aims to help students whose university plans have been disrupted, by offering fully funded online global employability programs.

Virtual Internships has created the 2020 A-level Support Scholarship scheme in response to the UK’s recent grading policies, which will see thousands of students miss out on a place at their first-choice university. The scholarship awards will support affected students by providing them with an online internship program which includes a work placement in their selected career field, access to our award winning online career readiness curriculum, career coaching sessions and certification that they can share on Linkedin and other platforms.

This time last week A-level grades were released across most of the UK despite no students sitting end of year exams, which were cancelled due to safety concerns. Many students had their results downgraded from their teacher-assessed grades based on an algorithm created by exams governing body Ofqual. The government announced plans on Monday to scrap the algorithm and revert back to teacher-assessed grades as a means to calculate A-level students final grades. Whilst this news is welcomed it is still expected that thousands of students will miss out on their place at university due to their teacher-assessed grades still being lower than their university course’s entry requirements, or from overcrowding due to universities filling places before the government’s change in policy was announced.

“Students this year have undergone challenges nobody could have imagined,” said Daniel Nivern, CEO & Co-founder of Virtual Internships. “Many A-level students will miss out on a place at their first-choice university through no fault of their own, many more could be forced into taking a gap year with the hope of trying again next year. We recognise how difficult this is and we want to help. We hope through these scholarships, students will be able to get their professional development back on track.”

Five scholarship positions are available in total with each scholarship winner being fully enrolled onto the Virtual Internships’ program. Founded in 2018, Virtual Internships’ mission is to nurture and enable students to achieve their career goals. Each program participant is guaranteed an internship position that matches their planned career trajectory and they are supported throughout the programme by their dedicated internship coach. Furthermore, each participant will have access to CareerBridge, Virtual Internships’ bespoke global internship curriculum which teaches students key professional skills needed in the workplace.

“This summer, Virtual Internships will be supporting over 1,000 students from across the globe as they take the first steps on the career ladder they’ve chosen, from the safety of their own home,” comments Nivern. “We’ve spent years cultivating our global network of host companies and we’re confident we can partner any student with the perfect career opportunity for them.”

Applications for the 2020 A-level Support Scholarship are officially open from today (Thursday). 5 scholarship positions are available in total for students who received their initial A-level grades on 13th August 2020 and meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Your UCAS predicted grades were higher than your CAGs (Centre Assessed Grade)
• You applied for university and received conditional offers but were not accepted due to your CAG being lower than the course admissions requirements
• You accepted a place at a university that was not your first choice before the government’s decision to accept CAGs on 17th August 2020
• You were not accepted onto a course by your first choice university, despite having met the admissions requirements with your CAG, due to the course being overcrowded

If you would like to apply for Virtual Internships’ 2020 A-level Support Scholarship, visit the scholarship eligibility page on their website.