ITR is proud to have participated in the development of the Gateways into Languages graduate placement programme.

The programme enables translation graduates to develop professional skills by carrying out work placements within a structured framework. The framework is supported by a guidebook for employers, graduates and higher education institutions.

Developed by CILT – the National Centre for Languages – working in partnership with six universities and five ATC member companies including ITR, the graduate placement programme celebrated its launch at the Institute of Engineering and Technology in London on 22 April 2008. Speakers included Lord Dearing; Dr Anne Davidson Lund, CILT's Director of Policy Research, Research & Information; and Helen Eckersley, a Director of ITR and Chair of ATC's Education Committee.

ITR's academic partners involved in the government-funded pilot scheme were:

• Aston University
• Imperial College
• University of Leeds
• London Metropolitan University
• University of Salford
• University of Westminster

Since the launch, ITR has continued to support the programme by hosting several graduates on work placements. Some of these graduates have since taken up permanent positions within the company – mainly in project management support roles or as linguistic quality controllers.

Translation graduates on work placements hosted by ITR can normally expect to perform a range of translation support tasks including:

• Terminology management tasks (e.g. term mining, building and updating glossaries)
• Translation Memory management tasks
• Linguistic quality assurance tasks (e.g. proofreading, user testing of localised software or websites)
• Project management support tasks (e.g. internet research, file transfer etc)

In accordance with the programme's framework, all graduates report to a mentor, usually a senior member of ITR's project management team, who plans the graduate's induction programme and workload, monitors the graduate's performance and provides developmental feedback. The graduate must complete a weekly report and a final report giving details of their activities and achievements.

It is hoped that more and more companies and graduates will exploit the mutual benefits of structured work placements. Helen Eckersley said "For the company, a work placement can be an invaluable screening stage in the recruitment process, like an extended interview. For the student, a work placement provides insight into suitable career paths, delivers experience that an academic institute cannot and reinforces a CV."

An event held at Salford University on 4 November 2008 marked the launch of a national online portal which enables employers to advertise work placement opportunities for postgraduate translation students.

For more information on the Graduate Placement Scheme online portal, visit www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/translation/placement/index.html