Medway Council: Reward Case Study

Medway Council is the regional council for the Medway area, Kent.

Medway Council have sponsored the EP Scheme since 2012 and during this time 140 rewards have been offered to students across the council. Consequently, students have gained valuable experience in policy, procurement, finance, legal, public health, youth work, public services and social care, to name a few.

You can find out more about the experiences of both the students and the council below:

Most recently, in 2019, Aiden Ratchford (School of European Culture and Langauges) undertook an internship in the Housing Team. Aiden commented that he was given ‘genuine responsibilities from day one’ and during the duration of his internship, he gained the chance to assist with the development of the council’s 5-year homelessness strategy and author a large report reviewing women’s health and rough sleeping. As a result of the internship, Aiden gained an unique insight into policy and local government, whilst developing analytical and research skills.

In 2018, Jadine Ingrame (School of Engineering and Digital Arts) undertook an internship in Child Services, where she created web content and marketing materials related to the Care Leaver’s Offer.

Jadine gained the chance to network throughout the council and conducted focus groups with young adults. “I have been given lots of responsibility, which is amazing”, Jadine said, “I thought I would be assisting but I have been given real responsibility.”

When summarising her experience at Medway Council, Jadine stated:

“I have been able to apply my academic skills to real life situations including design, research and planning projects…whilst I have also gained an insight into the world of social care. [The internship] has been both fascinating and eye opening and I would recommend this experience to anyone from any academic background.”

As a result of the internship, Jadine is now considering a career where she can utilise her digital skills to the benefit of local communities


In 2017, the team caught up with Chris Day (School of History), Justin Joseph (School of Computing), Ronnie George (Kent Business School), Kristina Sekareva (School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research) and Quynh Tran Nguyen (School of Psychology). Chris completed his internship in Housing where he worked on a range of projects, which had a real impact on the people living in Medway. Justin was placed in the Early Help Team, where he redesigned the website and project managed the transition to the Direct.Gov website. Ronnie, meanwhile, undertook 2-weeks in Auditing and Counter Fraud, where he attended fraud investigation visits, assisted with live cases and participated in an internal audit. Kristina worked on implementing the Youth Summer Scheme and Huynh undertook a research project, where she interviewed individuals and authored an impact report.

A reoccurring theme, emphasised by all students who have been rewarded by Medway Council, is the provision of real responsibility to the students and this is further evidenced below:

“My time at Medway Council has given me a fantastic opportunity to see all the hard work and persistence that is displayed by all the colleagues on a day to day basis. Being delegated ample amounts of responsibility has increased my confidence both in the work place and in my own abilities.  The EP Scheme remains one of the most rewarding things I have partaken in during my time at University and I remain very thankful to the scheme for giving me this amazing opportunity. I now strongly believe that having Medway enlisted as an employer on my CV will significantly increase my chances of securing a job in my field in the foreseeable future.” 

~ Porshia Boafo (School of European Culture and Languages) who interned in Heritage and External Investment.

And,

“My two weeks at Medway Council were very interesting and rewarding. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, they made sure that I was always happy and interested. I had the chance to fulfill a variety of activities including going to internal and external meetings as well as going to court. I have definitely gained lot and would recommend this reward to everyone. You get involved with plenty of areas of law and many different aspects of the everyday life of a council lawyer. I am still in contact with them and I would be thrilled if one day if I could be a part of the council as I loved it there so much.”

~ Giovanna Koulonti (Kent Law School) who completed work experience in the Legal Department.