As part of a federal initiative to aid the Government of Canada’s Small Business Internship Program (SBIP), today Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Waterloo Peter Braid announced that the federal government would be allocating $400,000 to the University of Waterloo (UW) program for the creation of 60 intern placements in 2010.
“This is a great program that brings together talented students with small businesses that want to harness the immense power of information and communications technologies,” said Braid.
This year the program will create approximately 400 internship placements nation-wide. Students will be given the opportunity to work with small businesses on such initiatives as e-commerce projects. The selection process for interns is underway for the first placements to begin this summer.
Feridun Hamdullahpur, vice-president academic and provost for UW, stressed the need for job placements for students.
“Just learning things alone is fantastic, but then how does it impact the economy of our country? What do we do with that knowledge? How does this help others?” said Hamdullahpur.
“I think these are some of the concepts that we are very proud that we are able to share with our students.”
For Braid, the benefits for both students and small businesses are an indication of the positive results for federal government initiatives.
“Our government wants to give [small businesses] even more opportunities to grow and to prosper,” said Braid. “And I am happy to say we are succeeding.”
Braid stressed the importance of the promotion of small and medium-sized businesses for the economy and also for the students, many of whom will find work placements in smaller enterprises over the summer.
“We want to make it easier for small businesses to succeed and to create the high-quality knowledge jobs that are essential for our future,” said Braid.
Until 2014, SBIP is to receive $17.5 million in funding as part of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy.
Last week Braid also announced that the government was providing funding for the new Centre for Aboriginal learning at St. Paul’s University College.
