Overseas Placements

There is an obvious attraction to doing a placement year overseas, the chance to combine gaining professional work experience with the opportunity to explore a new country and absorb its culture. Each year a small proportion of students do their placements overseas but there are additional challenges with finding overseas placements.

Whilst internships are common throughout the world, placements (where you spend a whole year working for an organisation as part of your degree) tend to be something mainly offered in the UK. Each department within the science faculty will receive some overseas placement vacancies each year but the vast majority of vacancies are in the UK. 

One of the first questions to ask any student interested in doing their placement overseas is 'what is most important to you' -  the overseas experience or the work experience?

If it’s the work experience, we would encourage you to not exclusively look at roles overseas so you have much more choice and quality of opportunities. But you can still look out for any international opportunities. One way you might be able to achieve both goals is to secure a paid placement in the UK which starts in the early summer and to use some of the money saved over the placement to fund an overseas trip at the end of the placement, perhaps for 6-8 weeks in August and September where you may be able to incorporate some relevant volunteering?

If the overseas experience is what you are most interested in, it might be worth looking at study abroad, where you spend a year studying at an overseas university. In doing this you may also be able to organise some work experience or an internship whilst overseas. As you’d get support with your visa, accommodation and overseas contacts this would eliminate some of the challenges of finding an overseas placement.

You would apply for study abroad in the autumn term of your second year and details of where you could go and what is involved are detailed at this link. Each department has an academic lead for study abroad who are listed here

If both the work and international experience are equally important to you and you are primarily interested in doing a placement overseas, the following advice may be helpful.

• Consider the practical implications of doing a placement abroad - flights, accommodation, visas and languages are all factors that will determine where you might be able to secure a role.

• You may be able to get some funding support via the Turing Scheme

• If you are interested in a specific country, this link on the prospects website has advice on working in different countries and where to look for vacancies.

• The requirement for a university accredited placement is to work for a minimum of 38 weeks for a minimum of 32 hours per week. It is possible to combine more than one role to make up the required 38 weeks.

• There are lots of charity and conservation organisations who offer work experience of sorts but generally they will be unpaid and in some cases may actually charge you. These tend to be more ‘gap year’ opportunities than work placements.

• Consider making speculative applications to overseas organisations who you’d be interested in working for, being clear about the dates and duration you are available to work. The  science faculty runs a workshop about making speculative applications and if you want advice on how to do this email Andrew Stainton

• Often students who have managed to secure an overseas placement have made use of family or other contacts who may be able to help them find a suitable role.

• If your longer term goal is to work internationally or move abroad, consider the benefits of doing a UK based placement with a global organisation. If you do well and return to work for them as a graduate they will be able to provide international opportunities or sponsorship to relocate.