The Innovation & Technology Commission said the new round of the STEM Internship Scheme launched this summer has attracted over 1,700 university students in the past two months, exceeding the total number of participants last year.

About 1,000 companies or organisations have also joined this round so far, close to the total number last year.

These figures showed that the scheme is well recognised and supported by the universities and the business community, the commission noted.

The scheme aims to encourage students to experience work related to innovation and technology (I&T) before graduation and foster their interest in an I&T career in the future.

It provides university students in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines with at least four consecutive weeks of internships and a $10,500 monthly allowance for up to three months in every academic year.

In view of the enthusiastic responses from both universities and the business community to the pilot scheme last year, the Government regularised the scheme this year.

The commission said it was pleased to see that the scheme has offered I&T internships to more university students and assisted employers in recruiting suitable I&T talents in the future, adding that it looks forward to participation from more employers and students.

A participating company said the scheme helped enrich its human resources and its intern was able to apply advanced technologies in mapping out solutions for the company.

Another company commented that the scheme helped it identify prospective candidates as future employees.

Some interns noted that the scheme enabled them to get in touch with state-of-the-art applications and advanced technologies beyond the school syllabus, and to experience the practical I&T work environment and strengths of the I&T field, which is beneficial to their I&T career development after graduation.