The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has confirmed that the government will be offering graduates struggling to find work trips abroad thanks to expedition company Raleigh International.

The scheme will pay for 500 graduates under 24 to travel to places like Costa Rica and India to take part in projects like building schools.

This comes as it is revealed that there are currently forty eight graduates chasing every job offered according to research by the Association of Graduate Recruiters.

The expeditions will be 10-weeks and will enable graduates to work on community and environmental volunteering projects in remote countries.

Unfair

David Lammy, Higher Education Minister said that volunteering would help new graduates develop the “communication and leadership skills that are so highly valued in the workplace.”

The government will pay Raleigh £500,000 to support graduates who otherwise would be unable to afford to go on such trips. According to a British newspaper, graduates must raise £1,000 to pay for flights and eligible vaccinations.

Applicants for this will have to prove an expedition overseas is beyond their financial means without the bursary. Normally, these expeditions would cost £3,000 per person.

Matthew Pickin taught in Malawi in his gap year, and says the scheme is unfair to those who had to pay £3,000, and that working to afford to be able to go abroad brought more satisfaction while being out there.

Government Not Helping Everyone

A recent graduate also disagrees with the scheme saying it’s like a “smack in the face” for those that aren’t picked.

He said: “I am out of work and I am currently funding my own re-training – currently heading for £3,000 – to make myself more employable and because the government will not help me.”

The government has increased its campaign to help graduates find work in the recession since the most recent batch of University graduates leave.

On Wednesday it announced 2,000 internships would be made available through a graduate talent pool website, and the Work and Pensions Secretary invited businesses, councils and charities to bid for a share of £1 billion to create 47,000 jobs for young people for six months at minimum wage.

‘Creative Thinking’

The outlook is also causing many graduates to stay in education.

National Union of Students president Wes Streeting said the governments “creative thinking” was welcomed to give graduates an opportunity to gain new skills.

He said: “With youth employment reaching the one million mark, funding opportunities foe skills development is surely better than the soul destroying experience of sitting at home watching Jeremy Kyle, on the dole.”

Although, chief executive of the Taxpayers Alliance, Matthew Elliot, said the scheme was a “headline grabber” that would dent taxpayers pockets.

He said: “The government needs to stop spending. It needs to focus on creating the right economic climate to allow entrepreneurs and business men to be able to hire new graduates.”

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