Public Funding for Pagoda Projects Ltd

Our vision is to build crucial international ties at a time when global relations are being severely tested. Every year our organisation enables young people from the UK to gain experience overseas. We have a particular focus on China, which has helped build meaningful partnerships during the Golden Era of UK-China relations. Pagoda Projects is a leading UK organisation in the International Higher Education sector. We have been awarded for innovation in our sector and our role in building links with key overseas partners since 2007\. Each year we organise work experience and cultural immersion programmes in China, Vietnam and Mexico for UK students, funded by the British Council and UK universities. We would ordinarily send around 700 students on our programmes in 2020, but now we are likely to send 0\. After accounting for programmes which can be postponed, we expect to lose over £250,000 in revenue due to COVID-19 related cancellations. We aim to develop an innovative online platform which will prevent a generation of students from missing the chance to build meaningful connections overseas. The project has three key objectives: 1. To continue to strengthen bilateral relations through cultural exchange and business links. 2. Assist UK students from a low-income background to develop a global mindset and enhance their employability. 3. Develop a sustainable online platform to ensure a continued positive impact in our field. The project's main area of focus is a comprehensive Remote Internship programme for undergraduate students and recent graduates. Participants on the programme are selected on a means-tested basis and must be UK passport holders. At the core of our programme is an internship, which is completed online. Alongside the internship our team will organise an extensive range of online events, networking opportunities, support and a cultural mentor assigned to each participant. We aim to use the Innovation funding to: * Reinforce the technology upon which the programme takes place * Retain employees to work on the project who might otherwise have lost their job due to the financial impact of COVID-19 * Fund a number of eligible participants whose in-person programme has been cancelled. A Remote Internship was a little-known concept until recently. This project is highly innovative within this growing market by using technology and focusing on the social mobility of participants, whilst achieving an unrivaled level of cultural understanding without physically travelling overseas. We aim to use extension for impact funding to enhance the most valuable and innovative elements of our technology platform and invest in activities which maximise the short-term commercial success of our innovation. Together with our key partner Padoq, we will localise our technology to accommodate China-based users and automate the technical side of our Cultural Mentor initiative, which will increase both the scalability and profitability of this component. Some of the funding will cover sales and marketing activity, including in overseas markets.