Good working practise and accreditation of placements are being championed by employers through Cogent. Opening up doors to other placement opportunities are also explored, bringing context to non-traditional placements, including internships, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and Case Studentships, depending on what the employer requires.

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The traditional placement year has moved from the ‘sandwich’ year concept to a programme of work-based learning, often complemented by ongoing remote study through the university, attracting credits and contributing to a student’s overall degree classification. There remain a number of issues often stated by universities for the uptake and accreditation of placement opportunities. These include:

• The supply, quality and comparability of placements in industry remain a concern for universities, students and accrediting professional bodies.
• The availability, management and assessment of placement opportunities are problematic.
• Issues with confidentiality where students report on projects which include commercially sensitive material. These difficulties can be overcome, but the process is not simple and may need renegotiating with every new contract.
• Students decide not to take up placement opportunities, often due to finance and time factors. This problem may be exacerbated if students become more inclined to compress rather than expand the duration of their study in the face of rising fee levels.
• Businesses are less inclined to host placements of less than a year to justify the investment in training the placement student in this complex and high-risk environment

Those universities investing and overcoming these issues do often see and use placements successfully as a means of attracting good students to their university course. Once these students return to the university environment, tutors often find that their students are more committed to the course, usually gain a better degree classification, and engage in their subject. In addition, universities often find that such opportunities lead to greater business engagement, and can allow for a working relationship to develop, attracting funding for further research and commercial developments.