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For students

Placements

Nottingham Business School encourages its students to consider undertaking a professional work placement as part of their studies. We see the role of a work placement as preparing you for the world of work, a world that demands skills and life-long learning to keep pace with the increasing rate of change in the labour market.

Our undergraduate sandwich courses allow you to take part in a one-year paid placement. We also offer the BA (Hons) Business Management (In-company) course whereby students spend their first year at NTU and the following two years on placement, and the BA (Hons) Management course, a three year fast track degree incorporating a sandwich year. Short-term internships are also available on the BA (Hons) Marketing programme.

At postgraduate level, a live consultancy project is an essential part of both our MBA and Executive MBA programmes and all our full-time Masters courses.

Benefits of a work placement

The work placement will provide you with an invaluable opportunity to get experience by engaging in business and industry practice and help develop your proposed career path. The placement can influence the outcome of your degree, with statistics suggesting that placement students do better in their final year and achieve higher grades (ASET 2007).

Furthermore, 30% of students undertaking a placement are being employed by the same company after graduating (HESA Students Records 2006 – 2007).

Other benefits may include:

the development of essential personal and professional skills including confidence, communication, project and time management, team-working and problem solving
an opportunity to gain an insight into the wider commercial aspects of business life including the management and client / company relationships
networking opportunities
the chance to discover and test your career options
an opportunity to acquire references which will support future job applications in a highly competitive job market.

No fees apply!

Students choosing to do a placement year as part of their undergraduate degree* can now gain themselves the valuable experience needed, while also saving some money as they will no longer have to pay a fee to the University during this year. This means, every penny you earn is yours to keep.

*entry from September 2012 and beyond.

How we help you secure a placement

We do not place you in a role - securing a placement is a student led activity, we offer a high level of support in your search and give you all the tools you need to obtain a placement. This includes:

One-to-one daily appointments, where we can discuss your aspirations and help you with your CV, applications and interview technique.
Close employer relationships with over 300 companies.
Special placement days where you can meet company representatives or current placement students who can share their experiences.
Support for students who want to look for their own placements.
A dedicated student portal for placement opportunities. Once logged in, you see placement vacancies that are unique to your course.
Relevant workshops on topics such as CV’s and interviews. We invite employers in to help in activities such as mock interviews and assessment days which are great experience for the real thing.
A dedicated placements area that you have access to in your first year on the internet, with information, hints and tips, websites and news items linked to placements that are updated weekly.

When you are on placement you will have contact from us during the year. You will have a visit from an academic tutor and come back to the University for a recall day. Should you wish to use them, you will also have access to all the University facilities and we are on hand to provide help or advice at any point during the year.

Applying for a placement

We encourage you to start thinking about the placement year during your first year at university. This is an ideal time to review your CV and fill in any gaps if you lack relevant work experience or need to develop outside interests. For further information download our placement application guide .