A UNIVERSITY spin-out firm has been launched to help graduates secure future employment with businesses across the region.

The Sunderland Intern Factory has been unveiled by the city’s university to pair graduates with local businesses on paid placements to help drive the region’s economy forward.

For those companies who sign up, the intern firm is a way to tap into the expertise of a university graduate scheme which will help an organisation develop and grow.

The concept is specially tailored to recruit final-year University of Sunderland students as soon as they have graduated, matching their specific skills to a suitable employer.

They then spend between three and 12 months with the organisation and are paid a minimum salary of £14,859 per annum pro-rata.

The scheme was introduced to complement and run parallel with the university’s successful graduate internship scheme.

This also offers paid placements with small to medium private sector companies in the North East for a minimum of six months, to any student who has graduated in the past three years.

More than 85% of the 110 interns placed to date have gained full-time employment or a contract extension.