Ninety Top Scots Students Score for Global Business Opportunities with Saltire Foundation Internships

A champion boxer, a professional model, a Commonwealth Games 2014 athlete and a number of students who have already started their own businesses are among 90 young Scots from 13 Scottish universities who are about to take the first step of their future careers with a highly-successful Scottish business internship programme which has already enabled over 1000 young Scots to get a taste of global business experience.

The Saltire Foundation, which was founded five years ago and is backed by the organisation GlobalScots, targets Scotland's most talented college students, most of whom would not normally have access to such opportunities, and provides them with paid internships in such stellar international businesses as GE, Diageo, IBM, Barclays Wealth and Liberty Mutual based in the United States, China, Africa and throughout the European Union, as well as in the UK.

Sandy Kennedy, CEO of the Saltire Foundation, said: "The Saltire Foundation's innovative approach to creating a vibrant and dynamic Scottish economy centres on unlocking the country's human potential . These high-calibre placements challenge Scotland's top students to develop their own skills while working on projects of real significance to their host companies.

"Students often meet and engage with senior level management and gain exposure to high-level business networks. Host firms in the USA have said that the quality of Saltire Scholars is as good, if not better, than their Ivy League equivalents.

"This year has seen a record number of student applications and we will be recruiting 2013 scholars from the Autumn of this year."

ENDS

Date: 15 June 2012

For more information see www.saltirefoundation.com or contact claire.johnston@saltirefoundation.com.

Note to Editors

Students in their penultimate year of study at a Scottish University who have not previously had the opportunity to undertaken similar experiences are invited to apply for internship positions which are positioned both within and outside the UK.

Kirsty Chalmers, 2011 Scholar at Illinois St Andrews Society in Chicago said that the placement: "opened my eyes to the business opportunities that were available for the taking. I returned to university after my placement with a completely different outlook about what I wanted to do when I finished my degree."

The Scholar programme is now in its 5th year with the Saltire Alumni remaining heavily engaged with the business community on a variety of levels. The continued outstanding achievements of the programme's Alumni clearly demonstrate the positive impact that developing future leaders can have for the Scottish economy in the medium to long-term.

The Saltire Foundation is a registered charity.

More information on GlobalScots can be found at http://bit.ly/cqlGvV

A full list of the 2012 Saltire Scholars can be found at: http://bit.ly/MaXgVL and the Saltire Scholar blogs at: http://bit.ly/inYNdg. Case studies can be provided upon request.