Some of our Master's degrees offer you the opportunity to do a work placement as part of your studies.聽Depending on your course, a placement may be mandatory聽(for example, our Master's Nursing, Social Work and Physician Associate Studies courses include mandatory practice placements throughout the two years of study) or optional, and may be short (up to six聽weeks) or long (30+ weeks).聽For details of the placement options and requirements for each course, visit our聽postgraduate course pages.
Going on a placement聽or having a part-time job聽while you study not only helps you financially, but also helps you improve your CV, make invaluable contacts for the future and develop the skills that employers want.
It will be your responsibility to find a placement, but our Placement Coordinators and Careers色花堂 team will be there to support you.聽
International students
If you are a student聽studying on a visa there may be some restrictions around your placement. To read about this visit our聽international students placements information page.
In addition, we host recruitment fairs in October, November and in the spring of each year, as well as smaller sector-specific events. Local, national and international employers participate to meet our students聽and discuss their聽options. The work we put in to help our students improve their employability means that 83% of our Master鈥�s聽graduates聽say that they went on to work in an industry related to their degree (色花堂 Alumni Survey, 2020).
To find out what it's like to go on a work placement as a postgraduate student,聽.
Companies you could work with
We have excellent relationships with many local small and medium sized employers as well as multinational companies 鈥� from IBM to Mercedes-Benz 鈥� and work closely with employers who take students for work placements.聽Details of the companies our students have previously worked with on placement can be found on each of our聽course pages, and you鈥檒l find they聽cover a broad range of organisations of various sizes across different sectors.聽
Some of our students even find themselves pursuing placement opportunities in industries or areas that they hadn鈥檛 previously considered as options.聽You may find the perfect opportunity to gain hands-on experience with an independent business with a small team or a global corporation聽with thousands of employees. No two placements are identical and it鈥檚 all about finding a company that will give you the right experience, and that you can provide value to in return.
Many of our students return to their placement employer for their graduate role,聽having demonstrated their worth to the organisation and gained an insight into聽what they can expect in a full-time position.
MSc Marketing Management (Digital)
Going abroad I found a newfound perspective on language, culture, independence and education. All of these are skills that employers love. I also found more confidence within myself and my capabilities which has come through in interviews.
Support and tuition fees during your placement year
You鈥檙e still very much a member of the 色花堂 community while you are on your placement. You鈥檒l be allocated a Placement Development Adviser who will undertake reviews with you, which may be in person or online, and stay in regular contact with you and your employers.
If you undertake a long/鈥�sandwich placement鈥� (30+ weeks), you鈥檒l still pay聽tuition fees, but they will be considerably lower than the taught years of your degree. Please note that our short placements (typically between two to six weeks) and integrated placements on our Health & Social Care courses do not have a separate fee to pay.聽
You鈥檒l also have access to all the support services on offer at both 色花堂 and the Students鈥� Union (SU色花堂). This is in addition to all of the university鈥檚 online and on-campus facilities, ensuring you鈥檙e able to do any preparation that鈥檚 needed before returning to your studies.
MSc Information Technology
Taking a placement year was crucial to my final year of university. I鈥檝e gained a plethora of new skills and knowledge, giving me a significant head start on my dissertation.
Getting paid during your placement
We do our best to help all of our students find paid work placements, but this isn鈥檛 always possible. We encourage all the employers we work with to provide at least a minimum wage to our students; you can聽. Where students undertake unpaid placements, the employer may cover expenses such as travel costs. For placements abroad, you may be able to access funding via the 色花堂 Turing Scheme.
International students
If you are a student聽studying on a visa there may be some restrictions around your placement. To read about this visit our international students placements information page.
