AS part of a $2 million corporate social responsibility initiative introduced by Centralised Strategic Services Limited (CSS) in partnership with Mico University College, eight students from the college’s business education degree programme have so far participated in work experience at CSS.

In a one-year agreement signed recently by both parties, CSS will offer 20 hours of professional services time per month to students selected by Mico.

According to Heston Hutton, managing director of CSS, the hours may be utilised by Mico as on-the-job internship, classroom lecture or a combination of the two, as the university sees fit.

“CSS will seek to give each student practical experience in the areas of auditing, project management, event management and marketing while they are assigned to our organisation,” he said.

Education students Marvia Morrison and Chevanne Wilson said the initiative is a good one, especially as it is mandatory for students to complete the Successful Business Policy course.

“It was a good experience and I learnt a lot about the company. I got a better understanding of how to plan an event inexpensively but with innovative ideas, and how to promote a company’s services. I think I will be able to use what I learnt to plan events and I shall be telling others about the company,” said Morrison.

For Wilson, the environment in which she had to work at CSS was “excellent”, and it was “an awesome experience being in an office where the persons were approachable and helpful.

“I learnt a lot about how an office operates and I wish we had a longer time there. I used social media to promote the services offered by the company and would have liked to have been involved in other aspects of the company, but the time was short. I loved the idea of the internship being mandatory, because in addition to being a teacher I want to set up my own business and this gave me an insight into how a well organised company works.”

The Mico-CSS internship programme ends in June, 2015.