The Engineering Placements Toolkit is designed to support higher education institutions and employers to enhance the experience and the value of students’ placements. Aligned with the Your Placement Journey Toolkit, designed for students, this toolkit aims to support the placement experience in three key stages: before, during and after placement.

Universities

Careers Service

• Support students in writing up CV’s based on their recently acquired experience, knowledge and skills
• Collect case studies and disseminate best practices

University Departments

• Keep in contact with employers
  • Invite key links to become part of the Advisory Board

Employers

• Write an exit reference at the end of the placement
• Consider continuing engagement with the university:
  • offering placements for next years
  • becoming part of the Advisory Board
  • contributing to curriculum design
  • support employers in implementing future placements

Joint actions

• Get feedback from the student at the end of the placement
• Provide a final assessment record
• Identify benefits and costs

Read more

• Before placement – Advice for universities and employers
• During placement- Advice for universities and employers
• What can you expect from your students at this stage?

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

The Engineering Placements Toolkit is designed to support higher education institutions and employers to enhance the experience and the value of students’ placements. Aligned with the Your Placement Journey toolkit, designed for students, this toolkit aims to support the placement experience in three key stages: before, during and after placement.

Universities

Academic supervisor

• Ensure ongoing support and visits to the student at the placement site
• Be available to meet face-to-face, by email or phone, accordint to the pre-placement agreement
• Monitor student progress and attainment of learning outcomes. This is particularly relevant if the placement is credited by the university.

University facilities

• Provide pastoral care for students
• Consider implementing a peer mentor scheme, as appropriate

Employers

Placement supervisor

• Try to give your student a set of activities that are valuable to the company, fit with the curriculum and are related with the degree
• Ensure that your student is given the opportunity to present their work to a small audience from various areas of the business
• Allow the student to explore different areas of the company and engage with different projects
• Identify learning and training opportunities that are available in the company and encourage students to participate
• Treat the student as regular staff, in the context of the placement experience

Joint actions

• Provide regular and constructive feedback
• Monitor student progress and attainment of learning outcomes
• Provide time for reflection, regular and constructive feedback. Give suggestions on how to make further improvements
• Set clear milestones and reviewing points with both the student, their academic supervisor and their placement supervisor

Read more

• Before placement – Advice for universities and employers
• After placement – Advice for universities and employers
• What can you expect from your students at this stage?

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

The Engineering Placements Toolkit is designed to support higher education institutions and employers to enhance the experience and the value of students’ placements. Aligned with the Your Placement Journey Toolkit, designed for students, this toolkit aims to support the placement experience in three key stages: before, during and after placement.

Universities

• Ensure Health and Safety procedures in the placement
• Give effective support in identifying placement possibilities, combining students and employers’ expectations.
• Help students in writing up CVs and cover letters
• Prepare students for interviews (e.g. mock interviews)
• Assign an academic supervisor to support and visit the student during their placement, and act as key contact link with the company
• Ensure Health and Safety

Employers

• Set clear guidelines and criteria for selecting a student – knowledge and skills
• Assign a placement supervisor to support and guide the student during their placement, and act as a key contact link with the university.
• Plan and deliver an Induction programme/pre-placement, so that student feels like part of the team. Suggested issues to address:
  • Health and Safety
  • Professional skills and conduct (dress code, culture of the company)
  • Management expectations
  • Visits to different departments of the company, so the student appreciates quickly how it all fits together

Joint actions

• Organise a joint meeting to agree milestones and methods of supervision and assessment. The combined assessment criteria could be organised according to the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC). The UK-SPEC “sets out the competence and commitment required for registration as an Engineering Technician (EngTech), Incorporated Engineer (IEng) or Chartered Engineer (CEng). It also includes examples of activities that demonstrate the required competence and commitment”
  • Suggestion: consider using mycareerpath – an online professional development system, designed by the Engineering Council and adopted by many professional engineering institutions for use by their members. The system is aligned with the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC) for EngTech, IEng, and CEng. The system is also aligned with other titles such as CPhys, CEnv, and CSci, to provide one platform to suit all. Progress can be measured and tracked against the competence statements for the chosen registration category.

• Organise a joint meeting with the student, agree overall objectives and set expectations
• Sign an agreement between the student, university and employer. The suggested topics below could be considered, if applicable:
  • Project title
  • Working hours (flexible or non flexible work arrangements)
  • Salary
  • Holiday entitlement
  • Expected dress code
  • Student’s roles and responsibilities
  • University’s roles and responsibilities – academic supervisor
  • Employer’s roles and responsibilities – placement supervisor
  • Schedule for academic visits and other meetings
  • Assessment criteria
  • Activities and resources are covered by university’s fees

Read more

• During placement- Advice for universities and employers
• After placement – Advice for universities and employers

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

Your Placement Journey Toolkit is designed to support you to get the best from your placement experience. It will help you to think about your placement, looking at your expectations, recognising your own responsibilities alongside those of your university and placement provider.

Aligned with the Engineering Placements Toolkit, designed for education institutions and employers, this toolkit aims to support your placement experience in three key stages: before, during and after placement.

Ana Miarnau is a mechanical engineering undergraduate at University of Bath. She had an international one-year placement at a research organisation in Switzerland. Initially, she was not meant to do a placement, but after speaking to students at the university who had been on a placement before, Ana thought it was a good idea to get work experience before graduating and increase their chances of finding a good job once graduated.

What did you enjoy the most and the least in your placement?

Overall I think it was absolutely fantastic. I was really lucky because I had a really good line manager that pushed me in different directions and gave me different projects on a range of topics. And I worked in a very international environment, which I really like, and interdisciplinary, which meant one day I was working with a physicist, the next day with software engineers. Also, what I really liked was that in general, sort of with respect to the university, it’s given me definitely really good time management skills and it also helped me to take my course a bit more seriously and appreciate it more. Whereas in the first and second years you just go along with whatever is given to you, I think this year back to university has definitely been different. My time management is better and I am enjoying it more, too.

The worst parts… I can’t really think of any. Maybe in the beginning, when I was given a project that was quite outside the scope of my studies because it was more electrical engineering based, and it was a little bit frustrating. But I soon talked to my supervisor and got moved to another project, and from then onwards I really enjoyed it.

What do you consider to be the 3 most important features of a quality placement?

I would say having enough work to do, because I did have maybe one week where I had almost no work to do and it can be really frustrating. So, having good quality and good quantity of work to do.

Secondly, having a good team or a good line manager is very important. I know other students who went to other placements and I think they didn’t enjoy it as much as I did.

And then the last one, maybe having good work-life balance. Being in Switzerland, I definitely had a really good work-life balance, and I think you really appreciate that while doing a placement.

Has this experience benefited your professional and educational life?

Definitively yes, to a very very large extent, I would say. As I said before, I think I’ve become more interested in my own course. And then, as a person, it has made me more mature and given me a better idea of what I want to do next. I still have some doubts from time to time, but now, at least, I know what I enjoy doing, and what I am looking for in a job. So it really has benefited me.

What 3 key pieces of advice would you like to share with fellow students?

I would say don’t be afraid to ask questions. In fact, ask as many questions as you can, even if they’re completely off topic.

Also, I would say, try and find opportunities for yourself. When I had that week where I didn’t have too much work to do, I didn’t sit and wait until work was coming to me. I went around to my other colleagues, who I wasn’t working with, but I just went around and asked them if there was anything that I could help them with. So, have the initiative and look for opportunities for yourself.

And then, the last one, would probably be to ask for lot of feedback and have a good communication with your line manager, because if something is not working, then that can help a lot. And if everything does seem to be working fine, then at least you can get tips on what to improve or what you can do better in the future.

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

Your Placement Journey Toolkit is designed to support you to get the best from your placement experience. It will help you to think about your placement, looking at your expectations, recognising your own responsibilities alongside those of your university and placement provider.

Aligned with the Engineering Placements Toolkit, designed for education institutions and employers, this toolkit aims to support your placement experience in three key stages: before, during and after placement.

Charlie Constable is a first year engineering undergraduate student at University of Cambridge. He took a gap year before coming to university, through the Engineering Development Trust ‘Year in Industry Scheme’, in order to try and feel how actually engineering works.

Tell us about why did you decide to take a gap year and how did you find it

I did it through the Engineering Development Trust ‘Year in Industry Scheme’. I was intending to take a year, anyway, after the university, so why not just take it before? So I took my year and went to find a job on something which I found really interesting and very helpful. And I thought it would help me getting in to the university, and being more engaged in engineering that way. I thought it would be useful to try and feel how actually engineering works, and if it was the thing I wanted to get in to. And I think it’s important to get some stuff in and not just do academics forever. In the future, when applying for jobs, I do have my feet grounded in the world of industry.

But it was quite difficult, to be honest, because it was the first time I had to live away from home. It was difficult sort of readjusting to work environment as opposed to school and university. These things are quite different. At the time I really felt it was really worth doing it, especially in that project, because things were not going brilliantly at that time for the company. It was kind of all hands on deck and they gave me a huge amount of responsibility. It gave me the chance to do a lot of things that otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do if I were in a big company.

I worked for a year for a company called “Turner & Townsend” in Birmingham, and I was working through them for a company which is a conglomerate sort of company between Three mobile and EE. I was building health and safety software for them. It was a general engineering job, so I wasn’t doing anything specifically in the field.

What did you enjoy the most and the least in your gap year?

What I enjoyed the least was… because it was a year and I suddenly gone there from being in school where you have a break every 6 or 8 weeks and have the chance to recharge your batteries. It was really difficult not having that time-off, and being away from home. That was the worst thing. And also, because I was working in consultancy, I had much more mature fellow workers, and it made quite difficult for me to feel that I had other stuff to do there other than work. So that was tough!

However, I think it was definitely well worth doing it. I really enjoyed the people in a lot of ways. I really enjoyed just going to an office, and everyone has a lot of things to do, but there is a chance to talk about things, discuss about our ideas in a way that is a lot less competitive than at school or university. The work environment is much more integrated, a lot more like you are a team all together, and it was a really valuable experience to gain before going for a proper career or a job, because you know that beforehand.

What do you consider to be the 3 most important features of a quality placement?

I think it has to be some kind of mix in the work you are actually doing. I was very lucky because I was given a great long-term project to develop software, which meant I had a lot to do.

I think it’s important to get on with your team as well. I think it would have been very difficult doing that sort of thing if I hadn’t really been friendly with all the people I was working with and with my boss. It would have been a lot harder. If you don’t go along with your boss you start to struggle, you don’t work efficiently, you struggle to get good chances to work because you feel they don’t trust you that much.

And I think it’s important to be interested in the field of what you are doing. Because you start to feel it as more important to yourself, and more interested in the work you are doing.

Has this experience benefited your professional and educational life?

Yes, definitely. The team work aspect was great. When I went to work I was very much a lone wolf sort of thing. At school I always worked for myself, done everything myself, relied upon myself. And I think the biggest lesson I learnt is that you can’t do that, specially somewhere like a place of work, or when you are in your internship, because you are surrounded by people who are experts in their field. You got to learn the lesson to rely on other people and look for help when you need it. I think it helped me to come to university because if I hadn’t done it, I would be struggling with problems and trying to solve things on my own, when there are better options out there, such as going to look for help and working together in group. I think that is, at the moment, perhaps the best thing I have learnt.

Personally there are a lot of other benefits, because I worked in software and I have never really done anything else that was software orientated so… I think it’s useful, specially before university, trying things that you know you are going to come against, but that aren’t quite on your comfort zone. And so software has completely new to me, I went there completely blind. But actually now, having done that and coming to university, and having to code every week, etc., etc., is a lot simpler and a lot less daunting than it would be if I just came here directly without this experience.

What 3 key pieces of advice would you like to share with fellow students?

Apply early. I think it’s probably one of the most obvious. That makes life a lot easier, because a lot of things are offered earlier in the year. So the early you apply, the better your chances are and better options are available.

I think it’s also important to know where you are living. I’ve applied for jobs in Aberdeen, and I am from London. So… I think if I had gone to some of those it would have been a real struggle, because it would have been much a more cut-off and much more difficult. Location is definitely an important thing to take into account.

And finally, it’s important not to be disheartened by failure. Lots of people who come through schools, through university, think that they can succeed in everything, ‘everything you put in your mind you can do’. And once you get into the world of work that´s not quite so true, and there aren’t so many jobs available. And if five people apply to the same job as you, and who are better than you are, well… that chance is gone. It doesn’t means you are not good; it just means that someone is better. I think it´s important to be told that everyone has this. So, just keep going and stuff will come.

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.