A local higher education organization has received a $115,000 grant from the Dayton Development Coalition to expand its college internship program and align it with the region’s key industries.

The Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE) announced the grant Wednesday at its 20 by 20 Challenge internship fair at Fifth Third Field. The event launched SOCHE’s initiative to increase the number of internships available to local college students to help develop and retain a talented workforce.

SOCHE wants to grow local internships from the current 8,000 to 20,000 by 2020.

Workforce development is the key issue for companies looking to locate or expand in the area, said Scott Koorndyk, the Dayton Development Coalition’s executive vice president of economic development and operations.

Top local industries such as advanced materials and information technology are “tailor-made for interns,” he said.

Last year, U.S. employers drew about 40 percent of their new college hires from their internship and co-op programs, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

The association said the conversion rate at which employers offered their interns full-time positions was 67 percent in 2011, up from 63 percent in 2010.

SOCHE’s regional conversion rate goal is 75 percent, said Sean Creighton, SOCHE executive director.

Vana Solutions, a technology services company in Beavercreek, has hired two of its three current interns from Wright State University, said Srujal Sheth, president and chief executive.

The company has committed to three additional paid, full-time internships as part of the SOCHE initiative to “keep our future workforce talent within the area,” Sheth said.

More than 300 students and nearly 40 businesses registered for the fair, officials said.

University of Dayton junior Chris Feller of Cincinnati attended the fair in hopes of finding an internship.

“It is a better real-life application of what we learn and study,” Feller said. “Some of them are paid, so the money is OK, too.”