Students from Middlesex are campaigning for fair, paid internships for all young people. Working with Intern Aware the students, as part of their first year course “Introduction to the Media and Society” are running a stall in the Quad from Monday 9 December until Wednesday 11 December. Later in the year they will be taking their campaign to universities all around London.

Building on the success of a similar campaign last year, in which 1662 people sent letters to their MPs demanding more protection for interns, this year’s campaign seeks to persuade the government to change the law to introduce a four week limit on unpaid internships. This simple measure would end confusion over the difference between volunteers and internships and allow interns to be confident of their rights.

“Most young people, living and working in London, cannot afford long periods of unpaid work,” said Chervelle Angliss a first year student on the Journalism and Media course. “Yet more and more employers are demanding that new employees already have experience. That means that those who are already advantaged, who have families who can afford to support them, are getting an even bigger boost. It isn’t fair.”

Three out of four interns are insufficiently compensated for their work and, it has been estimated, that living and working in London could costs young people around £3000 over the term of a typical three month internship. With students already burdened with debt, and with unpaid interns increasingly doing work that used to be done by paid graduates, the current system is putting increasing pressure on young people.

Intern Aware is a national campaign for fair internships for all. It aims to change the law to prevent employers exploiting their interns, bring young people together to share their experiences and help them stand up for their rights and to help everyone, not just the lucky few, get the internships they deserve.