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Work placements provide an excellent opportunity for students to gain valuable real-world experience and professional skills that prepare them for future careers.
All Undergraduate degrees programmes in the School of Global Development have two work placement opportunities.
First, undergraduate students can choose to do a Development Work Placement in the UK or overseas for two to three months. This takes place in the summer term between their second and third year. In recent years, students have worked on projects tackling gender violence in Malaysia, promoting sexual health in Uganda and medical care on the Myanmar/Thai border. Students can enrol on a Development Work Placement once they have started studying with us.
Second, undergraduate students can also choose to take a Placement Year for nine to twelve months in the third year of their degree, before returning to complete their final year of study. Placements are usually paid, full time roles, providing the student with a chance to develop work-based skills and gain experience of a sector that interests them. These placements can be done in the UK or overseas. Students can enrol on a Placement Year either before or after they have started studying with us. Students who complete a Placement Year will have ‘'with a Placement Year' at the end of their degree title.
At Postgraduate level, many of our degree programmes offer students the chance to do a Development Work Placement instead of a dissertation. Students can carry out their placement in the UK or overseas. In recent years, our students have supported AMREF UK in decolonising its communications, promoted Theatre for Development in Uganda and advocated for policy change Latin America on educational inclusion. Postgraduate students on a course that includes the Development Work Placement as an option can enrol on this module once they have embarked on their studies.
We provide a range of resources to assist students to find and secure a placement including guidance of where and how to search for opportunities, access to details of previous placement projects and workshops provided by the placements team in CareerCentral.
We also work with placement providers to offer dedicated placements for students in the School of Global Development. Students can access some funding from the department, which can help towards the cost of their placement. UK Government Turing funding is also sometimes available, for those travelling overseas.
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Rebecca, Peru
For my placement, I worked with Otra Cosa Network (OCN) who are based in Huanchaco, Peru, a small surfers town in the north of the country. OCN is dedicated to providing educational projects within and around Huanchaco in informal settlements. During my time there, my role was to plan and teach the literacy curriculum. I learnt so much from this role and it boosted my confidence and improved my Spanish language skills. The opportunity to immerse myself in Peruvian culture was incredible. Having the weekends off, I was able to travel with other volunteers to explore cities and hike in the beautiful Andes! My DWP was one of the best experiences of my life. As well as gaining valuable life skills, it has inspired me to follow a career in education and development
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Eleanor, Uganda
For my placement I worked with Public Health Ambassadors Uganda (PHAU) in Kampala, Uganda’s capital. PHAU is a youth centred public health NGO whose thematic areas include sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, youth economic empowerment, and WASH. As a Programmes and Communications Intern, I worked with two core teams of the NGO, travelling and working in the field on current projects and following that up with writing blog posts and updating PHAU’s social media accounts. This experience was a great opportunity to apply what I had learnt about international development and the developing world. In addition, this experience showed me what I found important and has helped me to construct an idea of what I want to do as a career moving forward. I would recommend the Development Work Placement to everyone as it provides hands on experience in the development sector that would otherwise be difficult to do.
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Kyra, Belgium
During the summer, I went to Brussels, Belgium to work as a Fundraising and Communications Intern at Oasis Belgium, a non-profit organisation that supports victims of sex trafficking and gender-based violence. This involved assisting the director with daily tasks including contacting survivor support initiatives, visiting massage parlours, and project managing a fundraising cookbook. It was rewarding to hear positive outcomes of cases that I assisted with and I am grateful for the survivors for sharing their stories. This experience taught me valuable skills and knowledge that I will take with me to my next endeavours. I learned the importance of accurately representing the voices of survivors of torture, and understanding how including survivors in research and policy changes can contribute to their empowerment and address gaps in policy.