Placement Options

There are many things you can do during your placement experience, including a combination of options. 

A placement year is a great opportunity to develop your skills, gain an understanding of an industry you’d like to work in, build your professional network, and graduate with highly valuable experience that’ll make you stand out from the crowd.

Our award-winning Employer Engagement Team work closely with hundreds of companies around the world to provide you with exciting opportunities. We work with big companies such as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), IBM, Microsoft, Samsung, Network Rail, Aldi, The Prince’s Trust, and Rolls-Royce, as well as SMEs (small-to-medium-sized enterprises). For those of you interested in a study placement, we have partner universities all over the globe. 

How you spend your placement is up to you – there are lots of options which we’ve outlined below. 

Don’t forget, we have a team of friendly Placement Coordinators who are here to support you with your search. They can explore your options with you.  

Want to know what is required for an opportunity to qualify as a placement? Take a look at this handy guide!

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meha bhindi placement image

Meha Bhindi

“My placement has opened my eyes to a new sector. The railway industry isn’t something I would have ever considered before, and I wouldn’t have seen the links between my degree and the skills that I’ve used. I didn’t think it would link so well, but it does. My placement year has given me a clear mind that I don’t necessarily have to go down the science route."

BSc Applied Chemistry student

On Placement with Cross Country Trains

 

Study Abroad

You can study abroad with one of our partner universities. 

Alix Twiggs did a Study Abroad placement in Valencia, Spain. We interviewed her for our From Campus to Careers podcast, and you can hear all about her experience below.
 

Set up a business

Enterprise placements enable you to set up and/or run a business for your placement year. Enterprise Placements are managed jointly by the Aston Enterprise and Careers and Placements team. If eligible, you may also be able to receive support via the BSEEN programme during your placement year. Interested?

Applications for 2024/2025 enterprise placements are currently closed. Come back to this page later in the year for more information.

Flexible options

Undertaking a placement in 2024/2025 will mean you have to complete at least 30 weeks of placement activity. This can be made up of one or more of the flexible combinations below:

  • A full year professional placement with one organisations (30 weeks or more).
  • A combination of shorter placements with a minimum duration of five weeks, combining to make 30 weeks in total.
  • A full academic year of Study Abroad, or one semester combined with another placement activity.
  • A voluntary or unpaid placement activity – lots of great degree related roles are unpaid, so consider these if you can.
  • Join the family business - you could take on professional projects within a family business. The business must have public liability insurance to be approved.
  • Part time or Entry Level Jobs – these can build your skills and could run alongside other degree-relevant experience (can’t be approved for student visa holders).
  • An Enterprise Placement – apply to run your own business during your placement year (must be approved and supported by the university).

For any of these placement options, you must work at least 16 hours per week. Each activity must be for a minimum or 5 weeks, combining to make over 30 weeks in total:

Your placement could be:

  • Site or office-based
  • Remote (when you work from home)
  • Hybrid (when you do a mix of workplace and home working)

Please note - the requirements for student visa holders are different to those for UK home students. Most options are similar with some different deadlines and stricter rules about when the placement is completed. Student visa holders who wish to complete a placement should contact the Placements Team.