Put what you have learnt on your course into practice, whilst gaining professional experience
The fact that over a third of our students are offered graduate jobs by their placement employer, shows how successful Aston’s placement scheme is.
Our dedicated Placements Team offer plenty of support to help you find a placement, and many employers actively recruit Aston placement students year after year.
Placement fees and scholarships
2013 entry students will have a heavily subsidised fee of £1,000 for the placement year, considerable lower than many other Universities. Placement year scholarships will make this year fee free for many.
Why take a placement year?
Improve your job prospects
A placement year enhances your graduate employment prospects and can help you make more informed career decisions. Over a third of our placement students are offered graduate jobs by their placement employer.
Improve your degree results
Aston students who take a placement year consistently get higher results in their degrees than those that don’t.
Work abroad
All our language students have a year abroad, and an increasing number of our students on non-language degrees are taking placements abroad. From 2012, all first year students will have the opportunity to learn a language for free.
Get paid!
The vast majority of placements are paid and so contribute to your finances as well as your CV! On average our students earn £15,000 on their placement year with many earning significantly more.
An Aston placement year is different
Around 70% of our undergraduate students take a placement year or language year abroad
Aston University is one of only four UK Universities where over 50% of students consistently take a placement years or year abroad and had the highest percentage of all UK Universities in the 2010 UK Government Performance Indicators published via HESA.
Our placements are more than a "bolt-on" year
Unlike some other universities, the placement year at Aston is not a “bolt-on” year, it is an integral part of your degree, which you are prepared in your second year and encouraged to look back on in your final year.
Decades of experience and employer contacts
Aston has over 50 years of experience in providing students with integrated employer placements and was one of the pioneers of this approach to university degrees.
We have developed relationships with a large number of local, national and international employers, who come back to us year after year to employ our students.
Assessment
Before your placement, you will be assigned a Placement Tutor who will visit you part-way through your placement to discuss your work and progress and to meet your manager.
At the end of your placement year you will write a essay or complete a project based on your experience. This will contribute to your final degree result.
Frequently Asked Questions
Visit the links below to view school specific frequently asked questions on placement year opportunities.
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