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Employment Experience Abroad

Module description

This module will permit Humanities undergraduate students to live and work abroad for the whole academic year (a minimum of 28 weeks). You will use one or more work placements to gain skills that equip you to work in the global jobs market and to improve your knowledge of foreign cultures. You are encouraged to think about the intercultural competence and the employability skills that you acquire during your year abroad.

You will normally need to have gained an overall average mark for the year of 50% or above at Level 1 in order to participate in ‘Employment Experience Abroad.’

Prerequisites: to have studied the workshop element of HUM2000 or HUM2001 (Humanities in the Workplace) and to have participated in the pre-departure briefing sessions for Humanities Employment Experience Abroad.
If the operational language of the work placement organisation is not English, you must have obtained an accredited Advanced Level module via the Foreign Language Centre at the University of Exeter, or be able to demonstrate the equivalent level of language acquisition (eg. DELF/ DELE/ TestDaf/CILS)

Suitability: This module is not suitable for Humanities students on the following programmes:
ESNA (English with Study in North America) programme; Modern Languages students.

This module cannot be combined with HUM3999 (Year Abroad).

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• Increase your employability skills in an increasingly competitive International market through seeking and successfully gaining a work placement abroad and being in a workplace for a significant period and reflecting on that experience
• Develop your intercultural awareness and competence through reflection on the experience of living and working abroad.
• Enhance your capacity for self-assessment through structured reflection on your experience
• Where appropriate to the main language of the country of residence, enhance your awareness of the process of foreign-language learning and to develop strategies for more effective language learning
• Enhance key transferable skills through the managing of your learning in an independent context, i.e. working with others; problem solving; communication; building up resilience; showing leadership attributes

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Produce job applications that represent your strengths and target specific employers in an appropriate manner
• 2. Demonstrate knowledge and application of the attitudes and qualities that are required to function well in a foreign work environment
• 3. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the social, cultural and political considerations which influence employment settings, using appropriate discipline-specific theoretical perspectives to analyse those settings
• 4. Demonstrate an ability to reflect critically on practical experiences gained, and the impact they may have on your views and actions
• 5. Demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the host country and a sensitivity to its culture so as to function as an integrated member of its society

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Demonstrate skills in the research, selection and evaluation of specific jobs and the structural context of those jobs
• 7. Demonstrate an ability to use appropriate discipline-specific critical approaches to evaluate the social and cultural and political aspects of an employment setting
• 8. Demonstrate an ability to communicate (in writing and in speech) in a manner appropriate to the particular workplace context

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 9. Develop / enhance practical work-based skills and experience
• 10. Negotiate the different types of working relationships with staff within the workplace, and others - directly or indirectly - relevant to the placement
• 11. Demonstrate the ability to identify and reflect on personal challenges and to learn from their resolution
• 12. Demonstrate the ability to use a range of technologies and applications relevant to most work places

Syllabus plan

Work placement(s) abroad for the full Academic year (minimum of 28 weeks) in one or more placement approved by the University of Exeter.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE: https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=11081 

Key words search

Employability, work experience, work abroad, workplace.