ASET has been involved in promoting good practice around placements since 1982, when the terminology was sandwich education, and limited to the year students would spend in the workplace as part of their university education. Now the broader term work based and placement learning (WBPL) is used, to fully encompass the breadth of opportunities available to students, irrespective of their level or mode of study.
ASET’s goal remains the same; to advance the prevalence, effectiveness and quality of work based and placement learning in Higher Education.
Terminology related to WBPL is an area of considerable and on-going debate. The examples below are not definitive but are widely used in ASET member institutions in the UK.
- Company visits: usually undertaken as a supervised group activity, either as part of the curriculum or outside, as an enrichment activity for students
- Insight days: offered and advertised by employers, aimed at students at an early stage of studies, typically ranging from a few days to two weeks
- Internships / Vacation placements: a short-term placement opportunity usually offered and advertised by employers although may also be secured through a speculative application. Undertaken by students at any level of study in vacation time or part time during an academic year. Elsewhere, the term “internships” is used in another context to describe opportunities for new graduates
- Practice placements: governed by a formal agreement between an HEP and an employer, these placements are generally undertaken on programmes where qualification leads to a licence to practice, such as in health or education. These placements are usually subject to PSRB accreditation. Students will often do multiple practice placements as part of their programme of study and employers may be involved in the assessment of students
- Projects: negotiated pieces of work, either group based or individual, sourced by the HEP or the student, which can be located at the employers’ premises
- Placement year: a placement equivalent to a year’s academic study (30-52 weeks depending on HEP regulations). Typically taken by students as the penultimate year of their programme
- Semester placements: if full time, equivalent to a semester’s academic study (12-15 weeks depending on HEP regulations). May also be used to describe a part time placement where a student integrates spending 1 or 2 days a week throughout the semester on placement alongside their academic study
- Semester or Year Abroad: where a student opts to study at an overseas HEP which has a collaborative / reciprocal agreement with their home HEP. This could include a period of work or may be study only. This may be part of, or additional to, their degree
- Work shadowing: short term, informal activities where a student will spend time on company premises but will have no contract or expectation of making a working contribution; it is an observation opportunity
- Work based award: a full programme where the employment setting is used as a contextual focus for regular learning throughout the degree; either retrospectively through reflection or prospectively through the setting of specific projects e.g., Higher or Degree Apprenticeships
