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Industry Placements through Global Placements

Hosting a placement student is a great way to develop the next generation of talent, whilst supporting their programme and assessment.


Every year we support growing numbers of undergraduate students to undertake formal year-in-industry opportunities in the UK and overseas. This development adds a new dimension to our provision, with access to a diverse talent pool based within a research-intensive leading instiution.

With dedicated support for faculties integrated into our central Employer Engagement function, your organisation will benefit from bespoke local intelligence on our students, whilst also being linked to the innovation and partnership of our wider teams ensuring a wide-ranging partnership with King's.

The student that we hosted impressed us in all areas - they were a full member of an agile scrum team - they developed on their own a testing solution, which helps us to detect issues much quicker, and before they impact our stakeholders. They presented their solution in front of 70 people, and in management sessions. The student was perfectly prepared, and if a showcase did not go to plan, they had a backup solution!

Host Supervisor at Vodafone Group Service (hosted a Computer Science with a Year in Industry BSc student, 2022/23)

All placements are an integrated and assessed part of a student’s degree programme therefore opportunities must allow students to achieve the required learning objectives.

We work with employers from all industry sectors to support the whole placement lifecycle, including:

  • Formulating placement specifications; advertising and promotion; on-boarding; assessment and health and safety
  • In-placement support, site visits and regular interactions
  • Review, reflection and re-integration to their programme and building your profile and talent pipeline on campus

Programmes supported by Global Placements provision

Through our Work-based Learning Unit, King's Careers & Employability facilitates placement provision to students on the below programmes.

Industry placements are also offered with programmes in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience though these are not supported by Global Placements.

The student has been an instrumental member of the team and has led improvement project which serve the entire R&D project management community - they demonstrated strong leadership skills in working with senior stakeholders, as well as third party contractors in multiple countries to deliver project work on time in a matrix team environment.

Host Supervisor at GSK (hosted a Chemistry with a Year in Industry BSc student, 2022/23)

Our Global Placements Support

  • 22 varied programmes offering employers great scope in their recruitment across our STEM-B programmes.
  • Play a significant role in future generations’ career learning & development.
  • Recruit students in the UK or internationally - we support students with employers across the globe.
  • Introduce a fresh and creative perspective to your team or organisation with cutting-edge academic innovation.
  • Attract and retain early global talent before students enter the graduate market.
  • Build your organisational reputation among our diverse student body.
  • Mutual learning opportunities including line management and mentoring opportunities for current staff.
  • Develop a strong recruitment pipeline from a leading Russell Group university.

Whilst there may be small variation between individual programmes in what placements are suitable, King's has adopted some institutional norms and criteria which all opportunties are expected to follow.

All undergraduate students on placement remain an enrolled student throughout their placement year and retain access to King's support services.International students are able to undertake an industry placement on their Student Visa and we expect employers to be open-minded about how a successful placement year might enable employers to retain future talent through use of the sponsorsed Skilled Worker visa.

  • Compliance with King’s Statement of Professional Standards and Work-based Learning Terms & Conditions.
  • Genuine meaningful work experience which enables our students to apply their academic learning in a professional context (in some disciplines there may be parameters on the exact role profile a student can undertake because of regulatory or professional accreditation but otherwise this may be across a breadth of roles).
  • A minimum length of 9 months (39 weeks) and maximum of 12 months (52 weeks).
  • Commencement aligned with our academic year, from June onwards, completing by the following September.
  • Remunerated at least National Minimum Wage (in the UK) or equivalent international rate(s).
  • Guarantee of Employers' Liability Insurance and rigourous Health & Safety Policy policies.
  • Commitment to sign a King's Host Agreement, a tripartite agreement which outlines the expectation of all parties and covers aspects of Health & Safety, Data Protection, Intellectual Property and Insurance.
  • Provision of a dedicated line supervisor and regular supervisory meetings with the placement student throughout the placement.

Alongside compliance with our core expectations, the best placements offer our students the ability to:

  • Apply the knowledge, skills and attributes gained from their studies at King's in real-life work setting.
  • Acquisition and development of personal and professional transferable skills.
  • Structured learning and development with theaAbility to reflect critically on the professional practice undertaken.
  • Regular supervision and mentorship from a line supervisor, and other colleagues across the organisation.
  • Acquisition of commercial awareness and skills which enable the student to understand and apply to future recruitment processes in a related industry or job function.
  • Consideration of a successful placement year as a potential talent pipeline for further graduate employment.
  • An opportunity to consider and refine career plans through an exploration of career options and the fostering of valuable professional contacts.

We prepare our students for their placement year from day one of their degree with a series of placement information sessions and professional development workshops designed to support them throughout their placement journey.

With this, our aim is to help students to become placement-ready, so they are comfortable and confident to enter the workplace by the time they reach you for onboarding. All students are provided with a dedicated Global Placements Handbook, containing a wealth of information to assist them before they join you, during their placement and returning to King's.

We undertake a series of interactions with both students and employers during their placement, including workshops and check-in briefings conducted by members of our team or academic colleagues.

We’ve made it easy to engage with our placement students to ensure you’re able to recruit for your placement opportunities in a way that best suits your needs.

  • Post your placement on our free King's CareerConnect vacancy board
  • Feature your Placement in our Placement Student Newsletter
  • Send a targeted email to specific student cohorts in the faculty
  • Attend our Placements Networking Night or participate in dedicated placement workshops*
  • Hold your interviews or assessment centres for placements on campus
    Promote your external placement open days, virtual events and workshops via our King's CareerConnect portal

    Have you hosted a placement student from King’s already?
    You can encourage them to volunteer for our King’s Placement Ambassadors scheme where their role will be to promote the value of placements to fellow students in their final year at King’s.

    *Availability for our placement events are strictly limited so please express your interest as early as possible. Attendance at timetabled placement workshops is offered by King’s invitation only.

As a truly international community, our students have worked in a range of organisations - from start-ups and SMEs to multinational organisations spanning all sectors, from New York City to Singapore.

Previous students have been hosted at employers including:

  • Accenture, London (UK)
  • Amazon, London (UK)
  • AXA, London (UK)
  • Balmain, Paris (France)
  • BMW Group, London (UK)
  • BT Group, London (UK)
  • Coca-Cola Enterprises, Bangkok (Thailand)
  • EY, Singapore
  • GE Aviation, Harmondsworth (UK)
  • Goldman Sachs, London (UK)
  • GSK, Brentford (UK)
  • HP, London (UK)
  • IBM, Singapore
  • KPMG, Lahore (Pakistan)
  • Louis Vuitton, Paris (France)
  • Marriott International, London (UK)
  • National Highways, Manchester (UK)
  • NBC Universal, Los Angeles (USA)
  • Nomura, London (UK)
  • Pfizer, Tadworth (UK)
  • Porsche, Shanghai (China)
  • Primark, Dublin (Rep. of Ireland)
  • Sansure Biotech, Shanghai (China)
  • Telefónica, Bonn (Germany)
  • The Walt Disney Company, London (UK)
  • Warner Bros Discovery, London (UK)
  • UBS, Frankfurt (Germany)

All organisations which commit to hosting an industry placement student from King's must comply with Section 8 of our Statement of Professional Standards and Terms & Conditions which includes completion of a tripartite King's Host Agreement between the student, the host employer and King's College London. Failure to complete this Agreement will result in the withdrawal of the student being able to complete their placement as part of their formal credit-bearing programme.

From August 2025, all host organisations are expected to commit to uphold the Office for Students Condition of Registration requirement E6, which King's is committed to adhering to. This condition sets out clear expectations for preventing and responding to incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct in higher education. In line with these standards, King’s expects partners to uphold equivalent safeguards, including maintaining clear policies, accessible reporting mechanisms and appropriate support structures to prevent, address, and respond to such behaviours.

Employer Statement of Professional Standards and Terms & Conditions (pdf)