FBL Optional Placement year
What is the Faculty of Business & Law Optional Placement Year?
- This is an optional year (also known as a year in industry) where you work within your chosen sector. This can be aligned to your degree discipline or can be in an unrelated sector.
- Your degree is extended to four years, with the placement undertaken at the end of your penultimate year; this is for one year (48 weeks) and paid.
- The placement can be undertaken within the UK or abroad, each placement is subject to an approval process by the Faculty of Business & Law Work Based Learning Team.
- You will study a work-based learning module (HRM 2053) alongside your placement year, this has a reduced tuition fee. If you are currently eligible for student finance, you can apply for funding through Student Finance England.
- You will be allocated a personal tutor who will support you throughout your placement year.
- You will remain a student throughout your placement year, allowing you to continue to access UON support services.
Why undertake the optional placement year?
- Gain industry experience and develop your transferrable skills.
- Build industry networks.
- Apply the theory from your degree to real-world situations.
- This will help you to make a well-informed decision about your future career.
- If you pass the placement year you will also gain our ‘Business Internship Award’- this looks great on your CV and LinkedIn profile.
- Improve your chances of gaining a graduate role.
Which programmes are eligible for the placement year?
The programmes below are eligible for the Optional Placement Year:
- Accounting & Finance BSc (Hons)
- Advertising & Digital Marketing BA (Hons)
- Business Management BA (Hons)
- Economics BSc (Hons)
- Events Management BA (Hons)
- Fashion Marketing & Promotion BA (Hons)
- Finance BSc (Hons)
- Human Resource Management BA (Hons)
- International Business Management BA (Hons)
- International Tourism Management BA (Hons)
- Law LLB (Hons)
- Law with Criminology BA (Hons)
- Marketing BSc (Hons)
- Politics & International Relations BA (Hons)
Watch Drishtee’s Year in Industry story and read more of our student case studies below:
Student feedback
Hear from our students on the benefits of a placement year:
Support for applying for a placement
Whilst it is your responsibility to find and secure your placement there is a range of support available.
- You can book a 1-2-1 employability appointment with one of our Career Development Consultants for application support and where to look for sector specific placements.
- We have a dedicated area for placements, that you can join from your first year and receive our weekly vacancies newsletter.
- You can search for placement vacancies on Student Futures Jobs Board for UON students.
Next steps
- Follow FBL Undergraduate Placements on Instagram ugfblplacements_UON
- For further queries, email the FBL Undergraduate Placement Coordinator fblplacements@northampton.ac.uk