Postgraduate Placements

Students studying on a wide range of Postgraduate courses at The University of Northampton have the opportunity to do a paid work placement as an integral part of their course.

The courses provide the opportunity for students to relate their studies and subject-related theory to real business practice, to experience the atmosphere and pace of different work environments and to apply problem solving in a real business environment.

The courses provide employers with the opportunity to introduce fresh ideas from a motivated student and is an ideal way of employing an intelligent and flexible resource.  Some employers offer placement opportunities every year to our students as a way of keeping up to date with current trends in their sector!

We ask you to provide the following documents to the student you are offering paid work to, so that a student’s job role can be assessed and approved:

• Job Offer Letter which confirms salary, start and end dates of the job role (dates must comply with the specific course requirements, which the student should be aware of)
• Job Description which sets out the general tasks, or functions, and responsibilities of a position. It may also specify the manager to whom the position reports, specifications such as the qualifications or skills needed by the person in the job.
• The student will ask you to help them complete a University of Northampton Health and Safety risk assessment, which they are sent a copy of.  As an employer, we ask you to ensure our student is safe in the workplace and is appropriately and comprehensively inducted into the organisation, is offered the appropriate and necessary training to do the job offered.  This document helps us assess risks to the student within the workplace.
• When the placement is underway, we also ask employers to confirm that the student has been attending in the workplace, this assists us in maintaining our commitment to the UKVI to monitoring the attendance of international students. To facilitate this attendance monitoring, we have an electronic system that manages attendance. Guidance about how this process works will be made available to you once the placement has been approved.

The following criteria are applied to all placements:

• The placement should involve the use of higher-level skills (i.e. should required at least an undergraduate degree or equivalent)
• The placement must be fixed-term (meeting any minimum duration as per the specific course requirements), not permanent, and designed to be developmental for students wanting to learn more about the industry or sector
• The placement should be for a minimum of 6 months up to 12 months long, or for a fixed 12 months (depending on course requirements – please check with the student)
• The placement should be paid at least UK current minimum/Living wage
• The placement should be full-time (Minimum 35 hours per week, maximum 48 hours per week)
• Approval is subject to approval of two documents (as outlined above) that students are asked to provide by a set deadline, in addition to the completion of an online form which captures the Health and Safety risk assessment information, and details about the employer.

Yes.  International students are able to work full-time because their placement is an integral part of their course, and therefore permissible under current UKVI Student Visa rules.  Current guidance states that:

“For a work placement to be included within a course of study, the work placement must be integrated and assessed as part of the course of study. There is no requirement stating that a work placement must be credit bearing or assessed as pass or fail.”

(UK Home Office, updated January 2026, Appendix ST 17: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-student)

The student will also provide you with a letter from the University confirming that they are able to work full-time. Please retain a copy of this letter for your records.

Students on placement are just like any other employee in that they are employed by the company to fulfil a particular job role.  However, there should be a greater focus on supporting and developing the student to help them experience the industry and organisation they are working in.  It is important to remember that all placement students will be studying, in addition to their full-time job role.  While there is no compulsion for employers to offer time during the working day for the student to work on their studies, it is very much appreciated.  In many placement courses, students will be studying a research project on an agreed aspect of the organisation they are working for!

Students follow a very strict ethics protocol for their project, which means they have to secure the consent of the organisation for their proposed project. All references to the organisation, and those employed by the organisation, will be confidential AND anonymised.

Students will be allocated an academic supervisor who will conduct at least one virtual ‘visit’ of the student in the workplace and guide them through their work-based project. We warmly welcome the opportunity for an academic supervisor to meet with the student’s line manager/supervisor to discuss a student’s progress but this is not a requirement of the course.