Student Eilidh MacKay, from Inverness, has won a prestigious Saltire Foundation internship – a summer placement with Football Aid in Edinburgh.
Football Aid was created in 2000 as a way of raising money for diabetes research, education and management projects, as well as other charities.
It is now expanding and Eilidh, a student at Stirling University, will research the feasibility of taking the programme to Germany.
“I specifically chose this project from a list of opportunities as my ambition is to become a social entrepreneur,” said Eilidh, a fourth-year business and sport student.
“I am especially interested in this work as I believe in what Football Aid is doing and see sport as a means of encouraging social change.
“It’s exciting to be part of the Saltire Foundation.
“It has given me an incredible opportunity to join the alumni of a prestigious foundation that allows me to stay connected throughout the course of my career.”
The Saltire Foundation targets Scotland’s most talented students to work in paid internships in organisations based in the UK, elsewhere in Europe, the US, China and Africa. Companies offering the internships include General Electric, Diageo, IBM and Liberty Mutual.
Eilidh is a keen traveller and took a gap year after leaving high school, as well as spending a semester at Washington State University.
This year, she is one of 90 young Scots from 13 Scottish universities who are taking the first step of their future career with this Scottish business internship programme.
Saltire Foundation chief executive officer Sandy Kennedy 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.”
Students in their second-last year of study at a Scottish university, and who have not previously had an opportunity to undertake similar experiences, can apply to the Saltire Foundation at www.saltirefoundation. com for internship positions in the UK and abroad.
