Professional Placement - POL00120M

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Module summary

The Professional Placement moduleprovides students a valuable insight into the work and world of public administration. This module will involve students spending a semester working in an organisation of their choice, ideally linked to their academic and professional experience and interests.

Professional requirements

None

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 2 2026-27

Module aims

The Professional Placement module provides students a valuable insight into the work and world of public administration. This module will involve students spending a semester working in an organisation of their choice, ideally linked to their academic and professional experience and interests.

In addition to gaining experience of a working environment, students undertaking a placement will develop strengths invaluable for the practice of public administration. The strengths a student may develop are likely to be:

• An understanding of a public administration working environment, includingits language, culture and how things are achieved
• Communication skills, report writing and oral communication appropriate to the working environment, and the ability to articulate their experiences for personal development
• Time management and the ability to prioritise effectively
• Self-motivation, independence and autonomy
• Team working, interpersonal and networking skills
• The ability to relate wider contextual information to the work of an organisation and individual roles
• Creativity, innovation, and the ability to identify opportunities for improving activities and putting them into practice

Module learning outcomes

Apply employability skills and enhanced self-awareness and understanding through reflection on a semester spent in a work-based context.

On completion of Professional Placement, our students will be able to:

• Articulate their strengths in a concise manner through consistent reflection of their skillset development over the duration of their placement
• Articulate a sense of career direction based on an exploration of their own values, skills and motivations arising from their placement experience
• Evaluate the fit of their own personal experience and values to the culture and working environment of their placement employer’s organisation
• Identify their impact on the placement organisation through a critical analysis of their individual role and the tangible outcomes of their work
• Confidently reflect on specific experiences obtained over the course of their placement
• Articulate the value and utility of any transferable skills they feel their degree studies have provided in a work context

Students will be expected to demonstrate these learning outcomesthrough a written, 3000-word reflective report. In addition, there will be a requirement for the student to meet with the Professional Placement coordinator at least once during their placement.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Special assessment rules

Pass/fail

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Module feedback

Standard feedback will be provided on the reflective reports via standard processes on theVLE.

Indicative reading

None