Two of Brighton and Hove's best known organisations are getting together to offer a new way to study and gain work experience in information technology (IT).

Some 30 students will work part-time for American Express for two years while studying for a masters degree in the new Department of Informatics at the University of Sussex.

Students will take the new MSc in IT for e-commerce or the MSc in human centred computer systems at the Sussex Innovation Centre on the Falmer campus.

The finance giant will pay the tuition fees and an annual salary of £15,250 as well as a £1,000 bonus - half paid at the start of the course and half in the second year.

At the end of the two years, the highest performers will get full-time jobs with the company.

The university beat competition from a number of institutions.

Professor Ben du Boulay, dean of the school of science and technology, said: "This partnership is an excellent start for the new department.

"We expect there to be many other benefits for teaching, research and the school's links with the business community."

Sharon Phillips, the university's regional development manager, said schemes like this would become more important to universities and industry.

She said: "The Government wants to find ways of extracting the information held in universities.

"There is masses of information, research and expertise and it needs to be used to support business and help generate economic growth.

"It will also help universities boost curriculum development and an integrated approach to higher education.

"But it doesn't just benefit the universities and business. It's a way of sponsoring students to ease the pain of tuition fees - they won't have to worry about money so much because they will be earning a salary."

Martyn Carr, vice president of technologies at American Express, said: "The roles performed by our employees have evolved dramatically in the past few years and we believe our ability to attract talented graduates is now even more critical to our future business success.

"It's a buyer's market at the moment and we've generated a lot of interest in the courses but this is a long-term association.

"This year might be an easy one from an employer's point of view but in a couple more years it might be much harder to recruit the best people."

American Express might also get more involved in curriculum development.

Mr Carr said: "The two courses we're involved with are very relevant to our situation because technology drives everything we do but eventually we might want to have more tailored programmes around financial services. We don't want solely American Express courses though. We like the idea of our people getting to mix with everyone else.

Tuesday March 18 2003