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Placement years - The Aston Advantage


Put what you have learnt on your course into practice, whilst gaining professional experience

A placement year or a language year abroad is a validated work experience opportunity which forms part of your degree course (usually in the third year of a four year course). This could involve working within your chosen field, studying abroad, or a mixture of both.

We offer plenty of support, both to help you find a placement and during your placement year.

Why take a placement year?

Gain real world experience

A placement year gives you the opportunity to put what you have learnt on your course into practice, whilst gaining valuable professional, and often paid, experience.  

Emilie Pacaud, BSc International Business & French talks about her Erasmus experience on placement at ESCP Europe, Paris.
View more overseas placement videos >

Improve your job prospects

A placement year enhances your graduate employment prospects and can help you make more informed career decisions. Around a third of our placement students are offered graduate jobs by their placement employer after completing their degrees.

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.  For UK taxpayers the placement is split over two tax years.

2012 entry students will have a heavily subsidised fee of £1,000 for the placement year, considerable lower than many other Universities and with scholarships available to make this year fee free for many.

Current academic year 2011/12 placement fee information:

Home/EU students on placement: £1680 placement fee.

International students on placement: £1990 placement fee.

The Aston difference

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.