Industrial placements
If you’re looking to gain hands-on experience at some of the world’s top engineering companies; we offer year-long placements on all our courses.
We encourage all our students to undertake a year in industry to develop valuable skills, knowledge and behaviours. A placement gives you real-world experience that will enhance your employability when applying for your first engineering job.
Key benefits of an industrial placement
- Improved job prospects; a placement gives you real world experience that will help you stand out when applying for your first engineering role. Often, placement students are offered a permanent job with their host company when they graduate.
- £15,000 - £20,000; the average UK placement salary.
- Study abroad; if you are interested in travelling whilst you study, there are placement opportunities in other countries too, as well as options to spend from 3-12 months at an overseas university.
- Professional registration; a year of industrial work experience can contribute towards achieving professional registration.
- Professional practice; put the knowledge gained during your degree into practice within a working environment alongside professional engineers.
- Improved academic performance; placement students often demonstrate improved performance on return from a placement due to the additional experience and maturity they have gained.
- Additional qualification; a Diploma in Industrial Studies (DIS) or a Diploma in Professional Studies (DPS) is awarded to students on successful completion of a placement.
- Professional contacts; a placement year is an ideal opportunity to network with industrial contacts at your host company and amongst their customers and suppliers.
Support for placement students
Support in finding a placement
Our students are keenly sought after by high-profile engineering companies who know from experience that º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ students are enthusiastic and equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to contribute positively to their organisation.
We have a Placements Team with links with over 600 companies that provide our students with current placement opportunities. The team is on hand to notify you of vacancies and opportunities available, support you in enhancing your CV and cover letters, and provide interview advice and mock interviews.
The Wolfson Placements Team also run an annual Engineering Placements Fair where you can talk to companies about the opportunities that they offer and have the opportunity to network with employers in the industry.
Industrial placements are a significant experience, and we make every effort to help our students secure placements which match their interests and ambitions.
If you are unsure whether to take a placement, you do not have to of specified this on your UCAS form as you can add one to your degree programme after you have begun your degree.
Support while on placement
While you are on a placement, our Placements Team is on hand to help and support you. Students can email the team at any time or can book an online or in-person meeting.
Once on placement, the team will call to check your wellbeing, how the start of their placement has been and to answer any queries or questions you have.
You will also be assigned a Visiting Tutor, who will visit you three times while on placement (a combination of both online and in-person visits for UK based placements, and usually online visits for international placements). Visiting Tutors support your development and success on placement, as well as supporting you to complete the coursework required to achieve your diploma.
Students on placement can still access the University’s Wellbeing and Support Teams to access extra support while they are working.
Recent placement companies
Our dedicated Placements Team supports students in finding placement opportunities and in creating the best possible application and performance in interviews.
This has led to our students completing placements with companies including: Jaguar Land Rover; Apple; Renishaw; Triumph Motorcycles; BAE Systems; Hawk-Eye; Caterpillar; Bentley Motors Ltd; PepsiCo; Aston Martin F1; and many more.
