What is Pathways to Arts, Culture and Heritage?

• Gain an insight into different roles in the arts, culture and heritage sector
• Increase knowledge of sector specific activities
• Be inspired by experienced professionals and have the opportunity to network and increase your connections with those working in the sector
• Gain confidence in your abilities along with developing and improving skills such as, teamwork, collaboration, presentation skills, commercial awareness, time management, creative thinking, problem solving and decision making to name a few
• Develop your career plan and potentially the opportunity to kick start your career
• Having the opportunity to work with like-minded students who are passionate about the sector and keen to make the most of the programme
• Culminates in an essential work experience, undertaking a paid internship with an arts, culture or heritage employer
• Undertaking a programme in a supported environment with continual access to the Professional Pathways team
• This activity counts towards the Exeter Award
• Receive a certificate

We welcome applications from all disciplines and levels of study from first year to final year, undergraduate or postgraduate and international students. No prior technical experience or knowledge is necessary, but we would like you to be able to demonstrate a keen interest in this subject area. Please see full eligibility criteria below: 

Student status

• You must be a current University of Exeter student when you apply for and take part in the programme in June/July 2025 (please note, students graduating in Summer 2025 are eligible to apply).
• Even if the internship is remote working, you must be physically based in the UK to undertake the role.*
• Students from any campus can apply for this pathway.
• If you have previously completed the Pathways to Arts, Culture and Heritage programme, please note you are not eligible to apply again. However you are welcome to apply for a different Pathway. 
• If you are an interrupted student, you will not have current student status and are therefore ineligible to apply for Professional Pathways.
• If you are a full-time Postgraduate student, you are limited to working a maximum of 6 hours per week, however if you are able to gain supervisor approval to complete both the training and the 35 hour internship, you will be able to undertake the Pathways programme. You will need to seek approval if you are successful at the assessment centre stage.
• If you are a part-time Postgraduate student, you are limited to working a maximum of 18.25 hours per week, so would need to split your 35 hours across two weeks, unless you get supervisor approval to work full-time (35 hours) in one week. You will need to seek approval if you are successful at the assessment centre stage.

Right to Work (RTW)

• You must have the right to work in the UK at the point the Professional Pathways programme commences in June 2025 and this must cover both the training and the internship taking place into July 2025. 
• In order to expedite the right to work checking process, you will be asked to provide your right to work evidence at the application stage. Please refer to the list of acceptable right to work documents.
• Whatever evidence you are going to use, please ensure you have the original with you at university as this could delay you getting your right to work checked and even jeopardise your place on the programme. If your passport is out of date you can still use this as evidence, but again ensure you have the original with you.
• If you have been employed by the University within the last 12 months and provided your right to work evidence, this should still be up-to-date and you would not need to provide it again. You can declare this to us at the application stage.
• For more information about Right to Work checks please see the Casual Workers webpage. 

International, EU and EEA students

• You must have the right to work in the UK at the point the programme commences in June 2025 and this must cover both the training and the internship taking place into July 2025. Depending on your visa restrictions, if you are successful onto the programme, we will try to match you with an employer that will accommodate part-time hours across two weeks, if needed.

*Please refer to the university's webpage here for further information on the university's position on remote/homeworking outside the UK.

Applications for Professional Pathways 2025 are now closed. The programme takes place annually and applications for our 2026 programme will open in late November 2025. You can register your interest in next year's programme here. 

Please note, the training and internships will take place in June and July 2026 and you would need to be a current student at this point to be eligible to apply.

The successfully selected students will attend a four day training programme, delivered by industry experts between 16 - 19 June 2025. The training will take place on our Streatham campus in Exeter. You would be expected to attend all sessions for your Pathway programme.

The training will equip you with vital industry knowledge, sector specific information, support to improve your employability and an opportunity to ask the experts any questions and hone your networking skills. You will also attend a session providing preparatory support to help you make the most out of your paid internship.

Accommodation:
When applying, please think carefully about your accommodation situation during the training dates and the internship period. If successful in gaining a place on the programme, you will need to be in commutable distance to the Streatham campus in Exeter to attend all the training days. For successful Cornwall campus students only, we will look to secure and fund accommodation in Exeter from Sunday to Thursday morning to cover the training dates. This accommodation may be on the Exeter Streatham Campus or in a local hotel/B&B depending on availability at the time and will be within commutable distance to campus. We will also provide a contribution of up to £75 towards travel expenses to and from Cornwall to Exeter for the training.

If you are on a year-abroad, year-in-industry, first year student with an accommodation contract ending prior to the training dates, or a student who will not have accommodation for any other reason during the training period, it will be your responsibility to arrange this. Please note, you may be able to apply for up to a £200 bursary from the university to support any accommodation costs.

Training schedule: 

Please see below the training sessions from our 2024 Pathways to Arts, Culture & Heritage programme. While the schedule is subject to changes each year, it is likely many of these topics will once again be covered in sessions:

Group Project

In addition to the sessions, the training will include experiential learning and group work projects set by industry professionals. This will give you the opportunity to work in small groups on a real life business challenge and put the content covered in the training sessions, into practice. You will be allocated time at the end of each training day to work on this. On the fourth and final day of training, each group will present their findings in front of a panel to receive feedback.

If selected onto the programme, you will undertake a paid 35 hour internship in a role focused on the arts, culture or heritage sector. These internships will be either part-time or full-time roles and take place between 23 June - 4 July 2025, after your training has been completed. During your internship, you may be asked to work on a specific project, undertake a particular piece of work or carry out a range of tasks that will enable you to gain an insight into how the company and sector operate. 

Once selected, a range of internship projects will be sent to you and you will be required to identify which roles you are most interested in. The internship opportunities on offer via the programme will be a mix of in the workplace, remote-working and hybrid roles. For internships undertaken in the workplace, you will need to arrange and fund your accommodation and travel expenses, however our aim will be to secure a number of opportunities local to the Exeter and Penryn campuses. For remote-working roles, you must be based in the UK for the duration of the internship due to tax regulations.

A matching process will be completed in late May based on your application form and identified preferences. No guarantee can be made that you will be matched to your top preferences. You will be expected to make contact with your internship host prior to starting your internship. Full guidance will be given on this at the relevant time. 

The salary of £14.12 per hour (includes £12.60 basic hourly rate + £1.52 holiday pay) for this 35 hour internship will be paid by the University of Exeter. 

Past internship hosts and roles in 2023 and 2024 included:

We recognise that with rising costs, the cost of living is very high, and we are therefore looking to try and support students where we can. For those students that meet Widening Participation (WP) criteria and are successful in gaining a place on the programme, you may be eligible to apply for up to a £100 travel bursary to support costs related to your Professional Pathways internship. You will need to have been matched to an internship involving some time spent in the workplace (fully workplace based or hybrid working). Please note, we will have limited funding available and where students are eligible, more information will be provided following the internship matching stage.

If you wish to check your WP eligibility, you can visit the Widening Participation (WP) funding page for full criteria and details, or contact us at professionalpathways@exeter.ac.uk if you have any questions. 

For students who have gained a place on the programme, we have put together the following guide on Making the Most of Your Internship‌‌. We would recommend reading this prior to starting your Pathways internship to be fully prepared. The guide includes useful information on points to action before your first day, things to consider while in the role and what to do when your internship finishes.

If you would like to see where your fellow students have undertaken their Professional Pathways internship and read about their experiences on the programme, you can take a look at their blog posts here. There are also some blog posts written by employers to give their perspective on hosting a University of Exeter student on an internship!

Quotes from former Pathways to Arts, Culture & Heritage students: 

“The Professional Pathways was a fantastic experience I’d recommend to anyone - the training we received was incredibly insightful as well as inspiring and comforting to me as a second year going into third year in terms of my jobs prospects and employability. The internship I then got to undertake was really the cherry on the cake of the experience working within a wonderful arts development charity/agency doing great things for the local Somerset region. It was privilege to be selected for not only the program, but to be able to contribute to a local organisation as well.”

“It was a great insight into an industry I otherwise would not have been able to get work experience in.”

“Professional Pathways will teach you about so many possible career paths that you could take in a wide variety of sectors and help you realise the opportunities there are in the local community.”

“I really enjoyed my time on the Professional Pathways programme with the training and the paid internship and am really grateful for this wonderful opportunity and would highly recommend this to anyone else considering doing this.”

“Professional Pathways was extremely useful to get a background knowledge on specific experiences in such a wide field. I really enjoyed my internship and it has opened many doors and confirmation in where I want my career to lead. When coming from an area that these internships are not always available it felt refreshing that the pathways team were able to accommodate to WP students.”

"The internship has been integral to understand the sector of Heritage and now I know that I would like to further my career into this area."

"Professional Pathways was a fantastic experience. I felt that I was constantly learning, both about myself and the working environment I would enter. My internship was very rewarding and I only wish I could have stayed there longer!"

"An absolutely invaluable insight into the industry, this is certainly an experience that I will be able to talk about proudly with future prospective employers!"

"This internship was invaluable to my progression both personally and professionally - would recommend to every student!"

"It was an amazing experience that has really helped me with my degree, and even allowed me to think about my future career plans and masters programme."

Elements of Pathways to Arts, Culture & Heritage align with the following UN Sustainable Development Goals.

If you would like to ask any questions, please contact the Pathways team at: professionalpathways@exeter.ac.uk