What is Pathways to Professional Services in Higher Education?

• Gain an insight into different roles in the Professional Services sector in Higher Education
• Increase your knowledge of sector specific activities
• Be inspired by experienced professionals
• Gain confidence in your abilities
• Develop your career plan
• Culminates in an essential work experience, undertaking a paid internship at the University of Exeter within the Professional Services sector
• 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 2026 (please note, students graduating in Summer 2026 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 Professional Services in Higher Education 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 2026 and this must cover both the training and the internship taking place into July 2026. 
• 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. A full list of acceptable documents can be viewed on the Home Office webpage here.
• 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 2026. 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 Pathways to Professional Services in Higher Education are now open. To apply for the 2026 programme, please complete the application form here. Please ensure you have fully read all the information on this webpage before applying. 

Within the application form, you will be prompted to upload your right to work document and your CV. Please note the CV request is so we have this ready for a later stage in the programme and we do not look at this as part of your initial application.

You will be asked to write an answer to four questions within the form, your responses to these will be marked and scored. To prepare your responses before beginning the form, you can download the questions here: Professional Services in Higher Education application questions 2025-26.

The successfully selected students will attend a four day training programme, delivered by industry experts between 15 - 18 June 2026. 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: 

Our Professional Services in Higher Education programme last took place in 2024. Please see below the training sessions delivered that year to give you an idea of content covered. It is likely several of these sessions will run again.

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 within one of the Professional Services teams at the University of Exeter. These internships will be either part-time or full-time roles and take place between 22 June - 3 July 2026, 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 University of Exeter operates as a company within the Professional Services sector. 

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. It is likely that most roles will be either workplace-based or hybrid. Our aim is to have roles available on both the Streatham and Penryn campuses. For internships undertaken in the workplace, you will need to arrange and fund your accommodation and travel expenses. If we do have any fully remote-working roles, you must still 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 Line Manager prior to starting your internship. Full guidance will be given on this at the relevant time. 

The salary of £15.07 per hour (includes £13.45 basic hourly rate + £1.62 holiday pay) for this 35 hour internship will be paid by the University of Exeter. 

The programme last took place in 2024 and internship roles 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 ask any questions, please contact the Pathways team at: professionalpathways@exeter.ac.uk