A regional publisher has partnered with its local university to create a three-month paid internship for a journalism student.

Newsquest South London, publishers of the South London Guardian series, is teaming up with the University of Roehampton to enable a student to learn first-hand how to be a reporter.

The company’s Young Reporter Scheme already celebrates work by teenagers who have submitted articles through their schools for publication on Newsquest’s websites.

Now a paid internship position has been created which will be advertised at the university this winter.

Newsquest’s Diana Jarvis, who has run the Young Reporter Scheme since it started in 2008, said:  “This is an exciting and rewarding opportunity for a student to experience life as a journalist working for a real live news organisation.”

Dr Paul Sutton, Head of the Department of Media, Culture and Language at the University, added: “Roehampton’s journalism degrees provide cutting edge understanding of the industry, including the growth and relevance of digital journalism, which makes our students some of the most employable in the country already.

“Backing this up with a paid internship at Newsquest will create significant practical experience for an outstanding future journalist, which editors tell us is a game changer at interviews.

“This partnership is typical of our focus on real-world work experience for our students so they leave as confident graduates who are ready to start their careers. It is also a sign of our pro-active efforts to build strong and productive relationships with our local newspapers.”

Commenting on the Young Reporter Scheme, Andy Parkes, group managing editor for Newsquest South London, said: “The Young Reporter scheme is one of the best, most successful projects we have ever undertaken and has given thousands of youngsters the opportunity to have their work published and experience many of the challenges faced by journalists.

“They are encouraged to source real news stories, hit deadlines and produce lively, readable articles. Some have even been lucky enough to be on the spot as news breaks and their stories have been picked up and developed by my news teams. At a time when every school pupil is looking for that extra, positive thing to include on their CV the Young Reporter Scheme is perfect.”