Sandwich placements
Developing key skills whilst earning a salary
Enhance your future career by taking one of Loughborough's sandwich degrees. These allow you to combine valuable industrial or professional experience with your academic studies.
This normally means that, after completing the second year of your studies at University, you spend one full year doing a salaried job in business, industry or commerce, and then return to University for your final year or years.
Some sponsored programmes offer a ‘thin sandwich’ – which means that you undertake your industrial training in two six-month stages separated by periods of academic study. If you successfully complete your industrial/professional training, when you graduate you will be awarded an additional bonus – the Loughborough Diploma in Industrial/ Professional/International studies (DIS/DPS).
You don’t need to establish links with a company or even to start making enquiries before you apply for a sandwich degree. Departments at Loughborough University have networks of industrial and professional contacts, and during your second year will help you find a suitable placement opportunity.
While you are away, you are supervised and supported by a member of your Department. Everybody benefits – you, the employer, and the University.
Professional training enables you to relate your university studies to practical situations in the workplace – in other words, it gives you real-life experience of the career you can progress to after you graduate. Placement students bring enthusiasm and fresh ideas to a job, as well as directly relevant skills. In addition, you can reap the following benefits:
- Earn a salary during the year-out – the average is in the region of £14,000 – £16,000 pa
- Host employers are sometimes able to offer you financial support during your final year(s) of study – often followed by a job offer
- The experience and personal contacts help you secure a job after graduation
- A period of professional training is an essential requirement for chartered professional status – your sandwich placement counts towards this.
The placement year-out boosts your confidence and helps you achieve a better degree result. It has been demonstrated time and again that the majority of students across all degree disciplines who obtain a 2:1 or better in their final degree have undertaken a sandwich year (source: The Guardian).
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