Academic Institutions
ASET – The Placement and Employability Professionals’ Body
ASET provides a comprehensive range of services for its members - 1300 academic and administrative placement staff at over 90 HEIs. For 25 years ASET, the Placement and Employability Professionals’ Body, has been at the forefront of developments in sandwich courses and other forms of work placements. It has been the catalyst for the development of guidelines in many areas and also the promotion and dissemination of good practice. ASET is a charity run by work-based learning practitioners for work-based learning practitioners and so we are able to offer support, advice, guidance and representation to all professionals who work in the field.
ASET runs a staff development programme and throughout the year numerous one-day sessions take place which are listed on the ‘Events’ page of the website. As well as this, an annual residential conference is held each autumn which includes both keynote speeches on the central issues of the time and a wide variety of research papers and presentations given in smaller participatory workshop sessions. The full conference proceedings are published and are made available to purchase from the Publications section of the website, alongside the ASET Code of Practice, our Good Practice for Placements guides and other publications.
The reflective essay competition for returning placement students, designed to collate positive experiences for placement staff to use to market the value of such opportunities to future students, sees a first prize of £500 awarded to the winning student. This competition is launched each September.
Bulletin news and events mailings and the website (www.asetonline.org) continue to inform members of developments within ASET and the field of work-based learning. The website is also has sections dedicated to Good Practice Advice and Research Projects
Implementing the new Section 9 of the QAA Code (Work-Based and Placement Learning), particularly the practical application of it, managing IT systems and continuing developments in relations to Health and Safety guidance, are just some areas that ASET is seeking to represent and act on behalf of its members at present. Our association will do all we can to promote the concept of work placements and to help all relevant staff meet the challenges posed by the ever changing and expanding debate on work experience/placement learning.
Benefits from ASET membership
ASET membership benefits both the institutional member and the Placement professionals employed at that institution, and thus indirectly the students involved with work-based learning and their employability.
Member institutions and their employees:
- Share in the benefits of dissemination of good practice, research and innovation, through the website, conference, workshops and bulletins
- Benefit from existing expertise in all matters relating to employability
- Optimise the opportunity to network and collaborate with colleagues in similar and related positions
- Find support with identifying and meeting training needs
- Develop improved awareness of how to get the best out of work-based learning opportunities including placement
- Have access to authoritative and well-developed reference puiblications such as the Good Practice Guide, Health and Safety, Managing Placements with IT and online, E-portfolios, and Experience-based Learning, as well as conference proceedings
- Benefit from discounts for employees for conference and workshops, potentially saving the cost of membership several times over
- For placement-student employers, finding advice on how to get the best value out of students on work-based learning arrangements
If you wish to discuss any aspect of ASET membership, please do not hesitate to contact the ASET office.
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Employers
ASET – Supporting Employers of Placement Students
What Can ASET Do For Employers?
If your company takes placement students then ASET can:
- Provide you with access to placement tutors and contacts who can directly facilitate recruitment and other employing services.
- Present you with opportunities to narrow down the field and find the most suitable academic institutions and people to work with.
- Help you raise your profile as recruiters amongst placement tutors.
- Offer help and support in best practice and the procedures of employing placement students.
- Help you develop informed expectations about undergraduate students and what they can offer your business, particularly for smaller companies and ones new to placements.
- Let you use its logo which will highlight to placement tutors that you are committed to placements and good practice.
Who Are ASET?
ASET is the professional body for placement and employability staff. It has been at the forefront of developments in sandwich courses and other forms of work placements, in both higher and further education, for 25 years. ASET has been the catalyst for the development of guidelines in many areas and also the promotion and dissemination of best practice. ASET is a membership based charity run by professionals in the placement field and so we are able to offer representation, support, advice and guidance to all companies and academic institutions involved in work placements.
What You Can Do For ASET
ASET’s aim is to promote the general concept of work placements.For ASET, employer members will help to benchmark good practice in preparation, recruitment and management of placements, plus advise if what universities are doing for students is appropriate for your company. This essentially will give opinions from both sides of a placement and facilitate each to work better with the other.
What Can ASET Membership Do For Your Company?
ASET runs a staff development programme, a series of training sessions cover topics such as ‘The Codes of Practice for Work Placements (QAA and ASET)’, ‘Health and Safety for Work Placements’, ‘Marketing for Placements’, ‘ Widening Participation and the DDA’, and ‘An Introduction to Work Placement Management’.
As well as these, an annual residential conference is held each autumn where placement staff and employers gather for plenary sessions and a wide variety of participatory workshop presentations, covering all aspects of managing work placements. This September, 100 delegates attended the conference in Birmingham to hear keynote sessions by the QAA, Eversheds LLP, the Vice-President of Universities UK and ASET’s Managing IT Systems working party.
Delegates and speakers from industry are always very welcome and there is a great opportunity for networking with individuals from our academic member institutions at all ASET events.
Bi-annual newsletters, the website (www.asetonline.org), and mailings inform members of developments within ASET and the field of placement learning and employability.
In terms of advice, the new QAA review of Section 9 (Placement Learning), particularly the practical application of it, IT systems for managing placements and the impending new UCEA Health and Safety guidance, are just some areas that ASET is seeking to advise, represent and act on behalf of its members.
What Now?
If you express an interest in joining ASET by going to Join Now, you will receive a complimentary copy of one of our main publications, the ASET Code of Good Practice. First of all, we hope that you find it of use to your staff involved in recruiting and managing placement students. If you would further like to endorse the Code and support the work of ASET and are interested in becoming a corporate member, please complete and return the application form that we will enclose with the Code of Practice.
Annual corporate membership costs £95 for SMEs (less than 250 employees) and £200 for other companies, reflecting the respective number of staff involved in placements that ASET will be providing a service for. Every single member of staff in your organisation is covered by the membership and can benefit from reduced fees for sessions on the staff development programme and conferences, and this alone recoups the cost of joining for many member organisations. ASET now has 98 members, listed below, who are variously academic institutions, individual members and companies.
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Current Members
ASET Members (currently 97 members)
Aberystwyth University
Aston University
Bath Spa University
Birmingham City University
Blackburn College
Bournemouth and Poole College
Bournemouth University
Brunel University
Canterbury Christ Church University
Cardiff Metropolitan University (UWIC)
Coventry University
De Montfort University
Durham University
Edge Hill University
Edinburgh Napier University
Harper Adams University College
Imperial College London
Kings College London
Kingston University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Lincoln College
Liverpool John Moores University
London College of Fashion
London Metropolitan University
London South Bank University
Loughborough University
Manchester Metropolitan University
Middlesex University
Newcastle College
Newcastle University
Northumbria University
Nottingham Trent University
Nottingham University
NUI Galway
Oxford Brookes University
QuantumIT
Queen Mary, University of London
Queen's University Belfast
Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication
Regent's College London
Robert Gordon University
Royal Agricultural College
SERC South Eastern Regional College,County Down
Sheffield Hallam University
Southampton Solent University
St Mary's University College
Staffordshire University
Swansea Metropolitan University
Tanaka, Yasushi Dr (Kyoto Sangyo University)
The Royal Veterinary College
University Campus Suffollk
University College Birmingham
University College Cork
University College Falmouth
University of Abertay
University of Bath
University of Bedfordshire
University of Birmingham
University of Bolton
University of Bradford
University of Central Lancashire
University of Chester
University of Derby
University of East London
University of Edinburgh
University of Exeter
University of Glamorgan
University of Glasgow
University of Gloucestershire
University of Greenwich
University of Hertfordshire
University of Huddersfield
University of Hull
University of Kent
University of Leeds
University of Leicester
University of Lethbridge, Alberta, CANADA
University of Limerick
University of Liverpool
University of Northampton
University of Plymouth
University of Portsmouth
University of Reading
University of Salford
University of Sheffield
University of Sunderland
University of Surrey
University of Sussex
University of the West of England
University of the West of Scotland
University of Ulster
University of Warwick
University of Westminster
University of Wolverhampton
University of Worcester
University of York
Writtle College
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Rates
The subscription rates for 2012 are as follows:
University/FE College £175
SME (less than 250 employees) £125
Other Company £250
Individual £50
As ASET is a charity, these subs, plus the hard work of the volunteers on our various committees, allow ASET to provide the services it does. We feel our rates represent exceptional value as this one off annual payment covers all relevant staff, in all departments, across the entire institution or company.
There is the additional benefit of reduced fees for conferences and staff development sessions for all staff in the member institution / company and this alone recoups the cost of joining for many of the member institutions or companies. If you are in any way involved in providing placements, can you afford not to have access to such a wealth of expertise, advice and assistance?
If you are not sure whether your institution has paid its subs for the current year, or would ever like to find out who your membership contact is, please contact the ASET office.
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Join Now
Please email the ASET office aset@asetonline.org if you are interested in becoming a member.
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