A SCHEME is underway to prepare graduates for the North-East's process industry.

The Sembcorp Skills Development Programme (SSDP) has welcomed ten science and engineering graduates, with more due to start later in the year.

They will study Teesside University’s Darlington campus, and bosses say SSDP will put about 100 graduates through intensive pre-employment programmes.

The move allows graduates to look at different career options in the process sector, which includes chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing to oil and gas and biotechnology, and the supply chain.

Students have already visited the Wilton site, near Redcar, to look around Sembcorp's biomass power station, and toured engineer Tees Components, in North Skelton, east Cleveland.

Graduate mechanical engineer John Widdowson, 22, from Darlington, said: “Courses like this help bridge the gap between university and work and boost our employability.

“Visits to real production sites provide an insight into the world of engineering and science plus the career opportunities available through other graduate disciplines.”

Angus Watson, SSDP course tutor, added: “For some students, this was the first time they saw the industrial application of the things they have learned about as undergraduates.”

SSDP was one of the first employer-led initiatives to receive public funding under the first round of the Government’s Employer Ownership Pilot fund in 2012.

The scheme also includes a six-month pre-apprenticeship for students between 16 and 18-years-old who are not in employment, education or training.

Bosses say about 100 young people are now moving from the pre-apprenticeship stage to a full three-year advanced apprenticeship.