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Improve your employability with a Bath placement

Choose an undergraduate placement degree from Bath to gain valuable work experience and make contacts for your future career.

Placements at Bath

Over 50 years ago the University of Bath was established to fuse academic thinking with practical experience. This is still at the core of what we do today. Bath graduates are highly valued and sought after by leading graduate employers.

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92.5% of our full-time UK-based graduates were in high-skilled employment 15 months after leaving university 1

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We’re ranked 4th for graduate prospects by the Complete University Guide 2024
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Ranked in the top 150 universities in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2024

Why placements

Doing a placement is an opportunity to get your CV off to a great start, have some fun, and gain the skills and experience that set you apart from other graduates.

Most of our undergraduate courses give you the chance to take a professional placement (sometimes called an internship or year in industry).2

During your placement, you'll usually pay a reduced tuition fee to the University instead of the full year's fee. The reduced fee pays for support from our Placement teams before, during, and after your placement.

Find out more about the tuition fees you'll pay for your course.

Some placements are paid so you could earn a salary while you work.

Going on a placement gives you the opportunity to work in a business or organisation, apply your academic knowledge and gain practical work experience. Your work could make an impact on the world before you even graduate.

Placements can last between six and 12 months depending on your course and employer. You can even take a placement in different parts of the world.

Most of our undergraduate students choose a course with a placement3 or study abroad so, when you return to finish your degree, you'll be back with people you know.

Discover our placement opportunities

Watch a video about the placements opportunities you could have at Bath.

Benefit from dedicated support

Bath's placements teams are well-placed to help you find the placement that’s right for you. They work with a range of organisations and have developed lasting relationships with the companies and charities they've placed students with in the past.

The team will work alongside you to identify your personal objectives, develop your CV, and help you find a suitable placement. They will also organise practice interviews to help you get the placement you want.

If you're disabled, your placements team will work with your employer to understand any adjustments that need to be made and help you apply for any grants you're eligible for.

A placement student talking with her supervisor

Get transferable skills

A placement gives you the opportunity to learn from experts who’ll share their knowledge with you. As part of a workplace community, you’ll get to meet colleagues and learn more about what the organisation does.

You’ll also learn how to solve problems, manage your time, and work to deadlines. Employers value these transferable skills highly.

Going on a placement will help you improve your understanding of an employer and industry before you commit to a future career.

A student working on a machine

Build valuable professional connections

Here are some of the organisations our students have completed placements with.

Banking and consultancy

  • BNY Mellon
  • Deloitte
  • EY
  • Citi
  • Oliver Wyman
  • PWC

Charity and non-governmental organisation (NGO)

  • Great Ormond Street Hospital
  • Development Initiatives
  • SafeLives

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and retail

  • Ferrero
  • Kraft Heinz
  • L’Oréal
  • Unilever
  • Vita Coco
  • Wild Cosmetics

Pharmaceutical and Science

  • Abbott Diabetes Care
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Merck Sharp & Dohme
  • Science Technology Facilities Council

Public sector

  • House of Commons
  • Metropolitan Police
  • NHS
  • Home Office
  • Office for National Statistics

Technology and Design

  • Amazon
  • IBM
  • Nomura

Sports and education

  • Millfield School
  • Southampton Football Club
  • London Sport
  • Hawkeye Innovations

Research placements

  • Harvard University
  • Swedish Winter Sports Institute
  • Auckland University of Technology

As a student, you have a variety of placement options to suit your career plans. Our students have previously completed placements at organisations4 including multinational corporations overseas, small to medium-size businesses in the UK, and start-ups in the local area.

Depending on the course you choose, you could do a research-focused placement, or work for a non-governmental organisation or charity.

On placement, you'll get the opportunity to work with other employees or volunteers, helping you to build valuable professional connections. They could help you with your future career by giving you references for job applications.

If you work really hard and impress your employer it may even lead to a full-time job when you graduate.

Beth looking at the camera and smiling
‘The opportunity to learn in a real working environment and gain an insight into a potential career has been invaluable.’
— Beth Buckley BSc Business

Explore undergraduate courses with placements

Find a course

  1. Compared to a median figure of 73.6% for graduates from the sector (University UK members). Data from HESA Graduate Outcomes survey 2020/21. Refers to full-time UK domiciled first degree 2020/21 graduates, who entered work in the UK, 15 months after leaving university. Contains Higher Education Statistics Agency Data: Copyright Jisc 2022. Jisc cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from its data.  ↩

  2. Placements are not guaranteed.  ↩

  3. 67% of students who graduated from our undergraduate courses in 2022/23 chose a placement year or study abroad option.  ↩

  4. Company names and logos do not constitute any endorsement or sponsorship by the companies. ↩