The Leeds City Region is leading the way in building trade relationships with overseas markets through a pioneering programme to link international students with regional businesses. 

The Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has teamed up with Yorkshire Universities and UKTI to deliver a pilot scheme to connect businesses with an international graduate or postgraduate student who can provide vital intelligence, language and cultural skills to help the company break into target export markets.

The concept originated from discussions last year between private sector members of the LEP's Business Innovation and Growth Panel and senior representatives of the region's universities.

The Prime Minister has since announced, following a trade mission to China last year, that UKTI will run a similar scheme nationally from summer 2014. Unlike any other part of the country, UKTI has committed to supporting the Yorkshire Universities and LEP scheme in the Leeds City Region instead of rolling out its own programme.

The pilot scheme aims to support a small number of placements in the 2013 - 2014 academic year. The placements will contribute to the LEP's overall drive to boost exports in the Leeds City Region through its We are International campaign.

For more information about the scheme, visit:  http://www.yorkshireuniversities.ac.uk/work/businessprojects/