About the scheme

Our placements give you a competitive edge, giving you opportunities to gain confidence, maturity and knowledge, find a focus for your final year of study, test out a career path, discover new professional possibilities, become an industry-ready individual, network in your industry, and increase your employability potential.

How it works

Professional Training placements typically take place between your second and third years of undergraduate study and can be up to 12 months in length. You can also choose to work abroad.

To enrol on an undergraduate course with an optional Professional Training placement, you must apply for this via UCAS. These are listed as 'sandwich' courses and have different course codes to our standard programmes.

If you have applied for a standard undergraduate programme, you may be able to move onto the Professional Training placement version of this, if you haven't already started your studies. To explore this option, please contact the Admissions team for further assistance.

2,300+ placement partners

We partner with more than 2,300 national and international businesses of all sizes and across all sectors. These include:

  • Airbus Defence and Space
  • Allianz
  • AQA
  • AstraZeneca
  • Atkins
  • Aviva
  • Bank of England
  • Bentley Motors
  • BMG Records
  • British Council
  • British Geological Survey
  • Brovanture
  • CERN
  • CGI IT UK
  • Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
  • Cisco Systems
  • Department of Health
  • Dolby
  • DSTL
  • EDF Energy
  • Electronic Arts
  • Ericsson
  • Fluor
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Guildford Pupil Referral Unit
  • Hedge Fund Intelligence
  • HEFCE
  • Hilton Hotels
  • HMP Holloway
  • Home Office
  • HSBS
  • IBM
  • Institute of Psychiatry
  • InSync Technology Ltd
  • Intel
  • Ipsos MORI
  • Jaguar Land Rover
  • KPMG
  • Legal and General
  • Lloyds Banking Group
  • London Symphony Orchestra
  • MBDA
  • McLaren
  • Merck
  • Metropolitan Police
  • More House School
  • MTV
  • National Centre for Young People with Epilepsy
  • NATS (National Air Traffic Services)
  • NBC Universal
  • Nintendo of Europe
  • Nissan
  • NPL (National Physical Laboratory)
  • Office for National Statistics
  • Padova Observatory
  • PerkinElmer
  • Philips Respironics
  • Plastipack Ltd
  • PRGX
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
  • RBA Acoustics Ltd
  • Royal Marsden Hospital
  • Royal Opera House
  • Royal Sun Alliance
  • Royal Surrey County Hospital
  • Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
  • Saudi Aramco Oracle
  • Sky UK
  • Southern Addictions Advisory Service
  • St John the Baptist School
  • STFC Central Laser Facility
  • Technical University Clausthal
  • Tesco Stores Ltd
  • Tesla Engineering Ltd
  • Thales
  • The Home Office
  • The Science Museum, London
  • The Walt Disney Co
  • TOPTICA Photonics UK
  • Toyota
  • Transport for London
  • Travelport
  • University of Kent
  • UPS
  • VMware
For my professional training placement, I spent a year working within the legal department of Spelthorne Borough Council. I was lucky enough to regularly attend various kinds of court hearings, including plea hearings and trials at the Magistrates’ and Crown Court. Cameron McCoig, LLB (Hons) Law