Professional Pathways

We are keen to support students in making that first step into the world of work. The programme therefore aims to give students from any degree background and year of study the opportunity to gain experience within, as well as knowledge and insights into, their chosen Pathway sector. This is particularly valuable as these sectors are notoriously more difficult to break into or stand out in. Professional Pathways also acts as a way for students to build on the knowledge and experience they already have and to support them in moving into a graduate role.

The scheme is very much about working with industry professionals and employers to support us in providing our students with a great experience, making connections and building networks. 

We are therefore very keen to connect and hear from you should you be interested in getting involved.

Employers or University of Exeter colleagues can get involved in a Professional Pathway programme by:

• delivering a one-hour training session 
• providing a business project for groups of students to work on during the training
• offering a 35 hour internship (fully funded by the university)

For more information, or to get involved with a specific Professional Pathway programme, please click on the relevant Pathway box above

Internship submissions for 2026:

We are now open for internship submissions for our 2026 Professional Pathways programmes! To submit an internship opportunity, please follow the links to the vacancy forms below. Please also visit the individual webpages linked further below to read full information around internship eligibility and how the process works. You are welcome to submit up to 2 different roles, however please submit separate forms if you wish to recruit into different roles. 

Submit an internship via our Pathways to Arts, Culture & Heritage programme

Submit an internship via our Pathways to Charity & Development programme

Submit an internship via our Pathways to Marketing programme

Submit an internship via our Pathways to Professional Services in Higher Education (for UoE colleagues only)

We will be closing for vacancies no later than 31st March 2026 or when we have reached the maximum internship vacancies we are able to fund, so we would recommend completing the form as soon as possible. All vacancies will be reviewed and you will be contacted by the team to let you know if your vacancy has been accepted no later than 24th April 2026. We will then carry out a matching process of student to internship during May 2026 and we will notify you of the outcome. Please note, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to match a student to all roles submitted.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss before submitting an internship opportunity, please email the team at: professionalpathways@exeter.ac.uk.