Placements explained

A placement student gives you a chance to develop and nurture potential future employees, creating a direct route for you to recruit some of the best early-career talent on the market. 
 
Placements can also be used for a variety of other reasons, including (but not limited to) completing projects, to fill gaps where staff have left, or to help where workload has become excessive for current staff.  
 
Students can bring into the workplace essential skills and new ideas developed through academic course content. 
 
The energy and enthusiasm of students can contribute to a richer, more diverse discussion within your organisation and your sector more widely. 
  
You can foster leadership skills amongst your senior staff and professional development opportunities for junior staff through supervision and mentoring opportunities. 
 
Collaborating with higher education institutions through placements can build long-term relationships, enhancing your network within the sector and enthusiasm for your brand amongst the student community. 

The process when considering to offer/create a placement opportunity is very similar to any job opportunity within your organisation. Here are some tips on areas you may want to think about if you need any ideas: 

The following may be considered when looking to offer or create a placement opportunity:

• The overall purpose or intended outcome of the work. 
• Activities and tasks needed to complete the work successfully. 
• Prior skills and experience required to undertake the intended tasks (bearing in mind that students may or may not have any prior experience in work.)
• Salary - placements can be unpaid but we would recommend payment is always made at least to the minimum wage, especially for placements over two weeks in duration. You will receive a higher quantity and quality of applications for paid placements.
• Any obligations relating to pensions – read government advice for employers 
  Training.
• Supervision and mentoring.
• Working on-site, remotely or on a hybrid basis.  
• Equality, diversity & inclusion throughout the recruitment process through and over the course of the placement itself.
• Wellbeing provision to support any students who may have wellbeing needs. Please note that while the University will continue to provide wellbeing support to students on placement, students should be treated and have access to the same wellbeing provision as all employees of the organisation.
• The duration of the placement to fit one or more of our placement programmes and modules. If you would like to explore which programmes or modules may be a good fit for your organisation, please contact placements@exeter.ac.uk or placements-penryn@exeter.ac.uk in the first instance. 

The university welcomes students from all over the world onto its programmes and they have access to the same range of work-based learning modules as UK students.  
 
So long as a placement has been approved by the university via our internal review and risk assessment process, there are no restrictions to the number of hours a student can work during the placement, and no sponsorship will be necessary. 
 
There will also be no further obligations for the organisation in relation to the student's study visa.  
 
The student is still asked to 'check in' with the university via email to meet visa monitoring requirements. These checks are conducted by the university.  
 
For further information about an international student's working restrictions and how a credit-bearing work placement is exempt from these conditions, please see the International Student Support page