Placement Year/Year in Industry

Attend a "Is a placement year for you?" event  - sign up via Handshake for these around April and May during your first year. Ask the Placements Team and student panelists questions and learn what you can do over the summer to prepare for making placement applications.

Discuss work experience options - if you are still exploring options available to you, attend a Careers Drop In Monday to Thursday, 10am to 12pm in semester-time.

• Missed our first year events or still feeling unsure? During semester 1 attend a "Placement insights" event for your faculty to hear from a student panel of returning placement students and ask any questions. Sign up via Handshake. 
• Registration is open between 1 September and 10 February. Registration is only for current 2nd year students except for students on an integrated Masters programme who can register either in their 2nd or 3rd year.
• Start your search. Placement roles will start to be advertised from September. Look at finding your placement.
• Important! Although registration to a placement programme closes formally on 10 February, if you are still interested in completing a placement next academic year or if you have secured a placement, you are strongly encouraged to contact the Placements Team to discuss your options. You can email the team at careers-placements@york.ac.uk
• Continue to make use of placement year/year in industry appointments and events, which you can book via Handshake. 

Please note - registering does not guarantee you a placement. If you register and do not secure a placement, you will continue into your final year of study.

 

• Secure a placement - once you have a placement offer please email careers-placements@york.ac.uk.  You will be required to complete our approval form. You must complete this form by 30 June.
• Pre-placement briefing - before you can start your placement you will be required to attend a pre-placement briefing. You will be invited to book onto a briefing session following approval of your placement.
• Programme transfer - if you have opted-in to a placement, rather than joining the University on a specific year in industry UCAS route, the Placements Team will guide you through the programme transfer process. 

The 'with placement year' and 'with year in industry' module routes are open to undergraduate and integrated Masters students. It offers you the opportunity to gain valuable work experience at a challenging level that will help prepare you for graduate jobs. 

Placement completion 

You can complete a year-long placement in your penultimate year of study; integrated Masters students are able to do this either between Year 2 and Year 3, or between Year 3 and Year 4. 

"Year in industry" or "placement year"? 

Some students will join the University on a 'with year in industry' route (generally in the Faculty of Science or within the School of Business and Society). All other students can 'opt in' to add a placement as a recognised part of their degree; depending on their department, this will credit them 'with year in industry' or 'with placement year'. 

• “With year in industry”: Biology, Physics, Computer Science, Electronic Engineering, all SBS courses (Management, Finance, Marketing, Social Policy) and some Mathematics courses  

• “With placement year”: All other courses. Opt in to this by 10 February of your second year (or third year if on an integrated Masters). 

• Students from Hull York Medical School and Social Work are not eligible for year-long placements due to the structure of their degrees.

The placement is an assessed module of the University; students must pass the module to graduate with a placement descriptor on their degree transcript. From the academic year 2026/27 the assessment process for students on either a 'with year in industry' or 'with placement year' route will be exactly the same.

Duration

You will need to undertake a minimum of 9 months appropriate work experience over the course of the academic year in order to fulfil the programme requirements. Students usually complete one placement of 9-12 months but it is possible to complete two shorter placements that total 9-12 months of experience; eg if your first placement lasts 6 months, you would need to find a second placement of 3 – 6 months duration. 

If your placement ends unexpectedly, you will either need to find another placement within the year to achieve a min 9 months, or alternatively you will be advised to apply for a Leave of Absence for the remainder of the academic year. If you don't fulfil the 9 month minimum duration, you would fail the placement year but not your degree and you would continue on a programme of study which does not include reference to ‘with placement/with year in industry’.

Student visa holders

Unless you have joined the University on a ‘with year in industry’ route you will need to apply for a new, four-year visa (with associated costs) if you are a student visa holder and you secure a placement. Contact the University’s Immigration Advice Service so you know what the visa process will require. You would apply for a new visa after your placement is secured. 

Support 

You will need to find and secure your own work placement, however support to students seeking placements includes events, workshops and appointments and access to a wide range of Careers and Placements resources. Before applying for roles, please read the Placement Criteria. The Placements Team will need to approve your placement before it can be formally associated with your degree

While on placement you retain your student status with access to existing UoY support services. You will also retain your departmental personal supervisor, who will meet with you at least twice during your placement to check on progress and wellbeing.

Placement Year/Year in Industry deadlines

• Start applying for placements in Semester 1 of your second year (or choose between second or third year if you're on an integrated Masters) 
• If you are not on a UCAS year in industry route, opt into the Placement Year/Year in Industry programme between 1 September and 10 February of your second year (or choose between second and third year if you're on an integrated Masters) 
• Secure a placement by 30 June ready to be approved
• Start your placement in the summer vacation

Placement approval

Before you are approved onto the programme, we will need to confirm that you have:

1. Secured a placement in line with the placement criteria (see Placement Criteria information below)
2. Completed the required documentation issued to you by the Placements Team 
3. Attended a pre-placement briefing

We will also need your placement provider to complete required documentation in order for us to approve the role. We will contact them once you let us know the details of your placement.

Your placement will gain official approval once we have confirmed these actions. This approval will be confirmed to you in writing. Careers and Placements reserves the right not to approve a placement and not to recognise a placement as part of the 'with placement year' or 'with year in industry' module routes. 

Student visa holders: if the addition of a placement requires a change of course you will need to apply for a new visa at the point of course transfer. It is important that you fully understand the costs associated with this; the University's International Student Support Team can support with any queries.

INTRODUCTION TO PLACEMENT APPROVAL 

If you are looking to secure a placement as part of your studies, it is essential that you consult with Careers and Placements as soon as possible. As well as providing you with assistance to support your search for a suitable placement, Careers and Placements is also responsible for the process of approving any placement opportunities you identify and secure. This is to ensure they are suitable for the purposes of undertaking work experience and receiving formal academic recognition from the University through the University's Placement Year module.  

IMPORTANT 

The University of York reserves the right to withhold approval of any placement opportunity if there are any concerns about the placement, including the viability of the activities anticipated or the suitability of any organisation or individual involved.

PLACEMENT CRITERIA 

Outlined below are important criteria used by the University to determine whether a role is appropriate for the Placement Year module. Should you identify a potential placement, you are encouraged to evaluate it against these criteria prior to reaching out to consult with Careers and Placements regarding your plans. Please note that certain requirements necessitate the submission of supporting evidence, as specified in the sections below.

1. The placement opportunity must offer challenging experiences that directly contribute to your progression towards a graduate-level destination.

While many placements will contain entry-level tasks at some point, for the majority of the role, you should be operating at a level that will support, through the development of skills and acquisition of experiences, an application for graduate-level work or further study. As part of the approval process, you may be asked to show Careers and Placements evidence that this will be the case (e.g. through a job description or offer letter from the host), and, as standard, Careers and Placements will also verify details of the anticipated role directly with the host organisation. 

2. The placement opportunity must last for a minimum of 9 months duration, based on a full-time working schedule.   

This means that you must be engaged in full-time meaningful work for the entire duration of at least a 9-month period between June in the year when you start the Placement Year module, and the following August when it concludes. Usually placements last between 9 and 12 months. Should you expect your placement length to fall outside the usual 9-12 month timeframe, or if the role involves part-time hours, you should contact Careers and Placements to review your specific circumstances.

Whilst it is normally easier to find one host organisation for the entire period of your placement, it is possible to work for two or more organisations during the course of the Placement Year module.  If you plan to do this then you will need to make this clear to Careers and Placements when you seek placement approval. 

3. The placement is with an organisation that is legally constituted and operates in line with UK/EU employment legislation or equivalent.

You should verify that the host organisation adheres to relevant laws concerning workplace safety, sick pay, and annual leave entitlements. While it is expected that placements offer at least the national minimum wage, there may be occasions when an opportunity does not meet this criteria. If this is the case, then please consult Careers and Placements, having first considered how financially viable such an opportunity might be for your personal circumstances.  The University of York maintains Terms and Conditions for employers working with us; these raise a number of legal and good practice issues that you may wish to consider in relation to the opportunity you are considering.

4. The host organisation should be willing to provide you with a letter of engagement or a contract of employment prior to you starting work for them.

If the organisation has no previous experience with these types of documents, then the University of York can support the provision of templates. If you are at all unsure about any element  of a contract or letter of engagement you may receive, then please consult with Careers and Placements. You should not commence any work for an organisation until you have a formal employment contract in place.

5. The host organisation must provide evidence to the University that it has full public and employee liability insurance in force; this must provide you with a level of protection at least equal to that afforded to the host organisation’s regular employees.

The University’s employer (host organisation) agreement form, which Careers and Placements will send to a host organisation as part of our approval process, provides details on the evidence required, normally consisting of the relevant insurance policy numbers. In some cases, notably when the host organisation is based entirely overseas, the issue of insurance can be subject to local laws and culture. In these instances you should consult with Careers and Placements for approval before making any placement commitments.

It should be noted that in limited circumstances it may be possible to extend University insurance cover to a student on placement. However, this can never be assumed; you will require written confirmation and approval of the placement from Careers and Placements that this is the case, before starting a placement.

The University will not extend professional indemnity insurance to a placement student on the Placement Year module. If a placement provider requires this form of insurance from you, then please inform Careers and Placements for approval of the placement before making any placement commitments.

6. The host organisation should be able to provide a written policy on health, safety and welfare provision. The host organisation should also be willing and able to confirm in writing that all relevant statutory duties in respect of health and safety and welfare are being complied with.

Careers and Placements can support you in obtaining these written assurances if they do not appear in your letter of engagement or employment contract.

7. No placement opportunity can be approved if it involves the student travelling to a country where the Foreign and Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advises against this.

You can check for advice and warnings about travel abroad on the  gov.uk website; this also includes information about entry requirements, safety and security, health risks and legal differences abroad. The risk level of all placement locations beyond the UK will be assessed by Careers and Placements at the time of placement approval. 

8. If a placement opportunity overseas requires you to obtain a visa, then this will need to be secured in advance of the placement starting.

The University of York will require a copy of any visa(s) you obtain.

If you opt-in to the Placement Year module (rather than joining the University on a placement or year in industry route), and you are a Student Visa holder, then you will need to change the terms of your visa, regardless of where your eventual placement might be located. You should consult with the University’s Immigration Advice Service to ensure you are fully informed as to the implications of this option before making any placement commitments.

9. The costs of any visas or other requirements, such as Disclosure and Barring checks, health screening, etc cannot be met by the University.

You should weigh these and other costs, such as travel to interviews, against alternatives before making any firm placement commitments.

10. The host organisation should be fully aware of your status as a placement student and be willing to afford you the time and opportunities to acquire experiences that contribute to the learning outcomes of the module. They should also be willing to interact with representatives of the University of York in their supervision of your placement.

The host organisation must be willing to offer you the opportunities to learn and develop, and also be aware of the requirement for you to provide a written submission about your time with them for assessment purposes. If the work of the host organisation has confidential elements to it, then approaches to handling this process are best agreed with the placement provider before taking up the opportunity. Careers and Placements will support you on these queries should they arise.

11. The Placement Module does not recognise self-employment as a placement opportunity.  If you are interested in undertaking an entrepreneurial venture as a learning experience, then you can consider the University’s Year in Enterprise  module as a potential option.

Finding accommodation for your placement can be both exciting and stressful. We have put together resources for you to help you with your search.

Practical tips for your search

SpareRoom is a great place to start looking for professional and student house/flatshares. You can filter by housemate preferences, bills included, radius, etc. Some features, such as contacting people who posted ads early, require the Early Bird Access (paid feature). Carefully consider the benefits of this versus the short-term cost. It is not a requirement to secure a room, but can be beneficial. Rooms will often be advertised 1-2 months before the intended tenancy start month. Use email alerts to be notified of rooms matching your SpareRoom search criteria. 

Remember that you are still a registered student during your placement. This means you are exempt from Council Tax. If you opt for a professional flatshare, you need to communicate this to your non-student flatmates.  

If you have not rented off-campus before, our Finding private sector accommodation page has guidance on what to consider, what your options are, and further resources around living in private sector accommodation. 

What should I do about accommodation for next year if I haven't secured a placement yet?

It is anticipated that you will be able to apply for a room on campus when room bookings open in November; applications are only open for a very short period of time. If you're successful in getting a placement outside of York, you can cancel your booking. You will need to provide evidence of your placement to the Accommodation Services Team as soon as you have it, otherwise you will still be committed for the full let period of your room.

Network with others for accommodation

If you would like to connect with other University of York students going out on placement to find accommodation together, we provide access to our network spreadsheet through a Google Form on request. Please contact careers-placements@york.ac.uk once you are in the approval process for your placement or have completed the approval process and ask for access.

To find out how undertaking a placement affects your tuition fees, maintenance loan, bursaries, and more see the student finance information on placements.

There are many tools available to help you with budgeting. The "Save the Student Budget" tool is great for being able to track expenses and setting realistic spending goals. It will help you look at your budget over the year and identify the key pressure points.

Average monthly costs can vary depending on where you are based during your placement. Transport costs can change depending on the length and frequency of your commute. If you are working in London, expect these monthly costs to be higher. Rent in particular is higher in London than the rest of the UK. You can save on transport in London with the 18+ Oyster Card, saving 30% on Travelcards and Bus & Tram Pass season tickets. You may also benefit from a railcard if you use trains to travel. 

If you would like to access further advice and support on financial issues and money management, please use the Student Support & Advice Self-Referral Form.