A " rent- a- student" programme in which businesses can hire bright undergraduates to help sort out their problems is being offered to local firms in the new academic year.

The scheme aims to team companies with students to work on specific projects on a part time basis during the holiday.

In return for their intellectual resource, under-graduates gain a salary helping them with the financial strain of university study.

Graduate Advantage, which has been co-ordinating the drive for the last year, claimed it gives firms a chance to devote a capable individual to solving business issue hampering profitability at a reasonable cost.

Students, meanwhile, gain invaluable work-experience and help with their fees - something set to become more important when university charges rise next year.

The programme sees students paid an allowance of £36 per seven hours. Under the scheme, small firms are able to claim 25 per cent of the cost of the total placement.

* graduateadvantage.co.uk.