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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 following programmes:

The student has been an instrumental member of the team and has led improvement project which serve the entire R&D project management community. The student has 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. The student is self-motivated and able to work autonomously, as well as in multidisciplinary teams, combining their scientific and business knowledge to add significant value to whatever they puts their mind to. I am sure they will be successful as they continue to develop their career once they have finished their university studies - I would welcome them back on the graduate programme should they wish to.

Host Supervisor at GSK (hosted a Chemistry with a Year's Professional Placement BSc student, 2022/23)

Our Global Placements Support

  • Play a significant role in future generations’ career learning & development
  • Introduce a fresh and creative perspective to your team or organisation
  • Attract and retain early global talent before students enter the graduate market
  • Build your organisational reputation among our diverse student body
  • Develop a strong recruitment pipeline from a leading Russell Group university

  • Your placement should meet the following criteria, together with King’s wider terms, policies and statement of professional standards in order that we can promote your opportunity to our students.

    • Last between 9-12 months
    • Start any time from June and finish by September of the following year
    • Be paid at least the national minimum wage for the country in which you are based
    • Provide Employers Liability Insurance cover
    • Provide supervision throughout the placement
    • Offer meaningful work experience

    King's expects all placement students to be paid throughout the duration of their placement - salaries are entirely dependent on the organisation, sector and country, but generally range between £11,000 - £25,000 pa. for the UK (Prospects) or equivalent international rates.

    King's Terms, Policies & Statement of Professional Standards (pdf)

    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

    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 part of 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 hosts include:

  • Accenture, United Kingdom
  • Amazon, United Kingdom
  • Balmain, France
  • BMW Group, United Kingdom
  • GE Aviation, United Kingdom
  • GSK, United Kingdom
  • HP, United Kingdom
  • IBM, Singapore
  • Louis Vuitton, United Kingdom
  • Nomura, United Kingdom
  • Pfizer, United Kingdom
  • Primark, Ireland
  • Telefónica, Germany
  • The Walt Disney Company, United Kingdom
  • UBS, United Kingdom

    Read our students' placement stories

  • Placements can be based in either the UK or internationally - we've supported students in countries from Singapore to Russia, Chile to the United States, and are always very keen to hear from employers offering opportunities overseas.