Youth Affairs Minister Laila Harré today announced that Auckland will have at least two of the pilots of the new student work scheme Snap which was announced yesterday.

Snap is a pilot programme where up to 1000 students will be matched with skilled short term jobs which are related to their courses. The programme also includes a national call to employers to come forward with work.

Jim Anderton will announce the full list of Snap pilots on Sunday. There will be five regions, and there will be a pilot targeted to Maori as well as two industry-specific projects in other areas and two additional Auckland matched projects facilitated by Economic Development Agencies.

Laila Harré welcomed the two pilots in South Auckland/Manukau and Waitakere, which will use specialists to help employers define their high skilled jobs and find the right students for these.

"The South Auckland, Manukau pilot, in particular, will work with Pacific Island networks and business agencies to take advantage of the potential for the pilots to assist Pacific Island businesses and students,” Laila Harré said.

The two agencies delivering the programmes are Enterprise Waitakere and Enterprising Manukau, who will each place 35 - 50 students in high skilled work.

The matched project pilots will provide students with the opportunity to undertake a project in a business setting, while enabling a small and medium enterprise to obtain skills that it may have been unable to source.

"The Alliance supports the EUB for students who cannot find holiday work. Since we haven't been able to achieve this within the Coalition we want to ensure as many students as possible have an income over the vacation," said Laila Harré.

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