The Business + Higher Education Roundtable is thrilled to welcome four summer interns. BHER received over 580 applications to our virtual summer internships call. We see that as a testament to BHER’s appeal to talented young people who want to make a difference. And to the increasing recognition of the role of WIL in helping students develop the skills they need to move between the classroom and work. 

COVID-19 continues to alter the playing field. Post-secondary students continue to report labour market disruption, cuts to their hours, lost jobs, and canceled or delayed WIL placements. It's not surprising, then, that demand for quality work-integrated learning placements continues to outstrip supply. 

“We’re excited to be able to support students through virtual WIL placements in 2021,” says Dr. Valerie Walker, Chief Executive Officer, BHER, “and only wish we could have hired more from the incredible pool of applicants. COVID-19 has been challenging on so many levels but it's also an opportunity to explore new ways of learning and working as we continue to work toward our goal of a WIL placement for every post-secondary student.”

The four interns will develop their skills in applied research, project management, knowledge mobilization, and communications. Tanika Bryan, Georgia Lin, Samantha Graham and Emily Andrews will also benefit from the tools and resources BHER has developed as part of its soon-to-be-launched WIL Resource Hub, which includes mentorship, assessment, EDI, and ROI guides and so much more. 

As an added bonus, BHER was also able to fill a new Executive Coordinator position from the pool of applicants. Crystal Kwan comes to BHER from Seneca College. She is finishing her diploma in Executive Office Administration and will apply her skills in information management and corporate policies and procedures.

Meet BHER’s Summer 2021 Interns and new Executive Coordinator here: https://bher.ca/about/bher-team.