Practical experiences

Work placements

About this opportunity

Some degree courses incorporate work placements into the learning whilst some courses, known as Sandwich courses, offer year long work placements between years 2 and 3 of your degree. It's really valuable to engage with a placement as part of your course and your school's placement unit will be able to help you, if you're not sure what to do. If, for any reason, you're not able to engage with placements in the traditional way, there may be other options for you such as short-term placements or alternatives to placement year, like the "Enterprise Placement Year".

Whichever option appeals to you, placements involve working with organisations for an extended period of time to develop skills that will benefit your employability. They are often linked to your chosen degree subject.

How to engage with this opportunity

To engage with a placement, we recommend visiting the Careers Service's Placements page and exploring the options that are available to you. Once you know which placement option suits you best, use the provided contact details to start a discussion about what you need to do next.

What commitment is required?

Placements, dependent on the option you choose, can be short, medium or long term. Speak with the placement unit in your school or the placement provider if you have specific questions about placements and the commitments required.

Using this opportunity as evidence towards your Global Professional Award Electives?

Forage virtual internships

About this opportunity

Virtual work experience programs replicate work at top companies and help you gain the skills to be successful when applying and working there. In only 5-6 hours, learn the relevant tools necessary to complete a typical work day at that company. Forage's virtual work experience programs are 100% free, open-access, and self-paced. No experience or application is required!  Upon completion you will get a free certificate and can add the experience to your LinkedIn profile.

How to engage with this opportunity

Visit the Forage website and register for an account by signing up with your University email address.  Provide your details, ensuring you select the University of Huddersfield from the drop-down list.  Once registered, enrol on programmes that spark your interest!

What commitment is required?

The virtual internships provided by Forage take different amounts of time to complete but most expect you to spend 5-6 hours completing the activities.  They are self-paced so you can fit them in around your other commitments.

Using this opportunity as evidence towards your Global Professional Award Electives?

If you engage with any of Forage's virtual internships you may use it as evidence towards your Electives portfolio. The evidence required is a reflection of your personal and professional learning from engaging with the opportunity, which should be added to your Electives portfolio document. This will be found on your Brightspace GPA module.

When using Forage virtual internships as evidence for the GPA, please ensure you take note of the time the internship takes you to complete as these will vary depending on the internships you choose.

The Access Project - Volunteer tutor

About this opportunity

The Access Project helps bright students from disadvantaged backgrounds to beat the odds, by providing in-school support and personalised tuition, to help them gain access to top universities.

They are looking for volunteer tutors in the following subjects, to coincide with the subjects that their students have requested:

• GCSE and A level: Biology, Chemistry, English, French, Geography, History, Maths, Physics, Spanish
• A Level only: Economics, Politics, Psychology

There is currently a high demand for English, Maths and Science.

Please note that you can tutor at GCSE if you have an A level (grade B or higher) in the subject. If you want to tutor at A level, you’ll need an undergraduate degree or equivalent qualification in the subject.

As a volunteer tutor, you’ll be paired with a 14 to 18-year-old student to support them to achieve their potential in one of their GCSE or A level subjects. In a weekly tutorial session, you will address the topics that their teacher thinks would be most helpful for them.

How to engage with this opportunity

It’s really easy to get started. All you need to do is:

• Fill in the sign-up form online and tell The Access Project a bit about your education and your reasons for volunteering
• Supply two character references
• Complete the online safeguarding course
• You will receive a CPD accredited certificate upon completion
• Attend a 2.5-hour online training session
• Complete a DBS check, which is organised for you by The Access Project.

If you are interested in this opportunity please apply to volunteer as a tutor.  

You can apply at any point during the year, but tutoring takes place between September and July. The majority of the volunteers are trained in summer and autumn.

What commitment is required?

You’ll need to be able to tutor for an hour a week during term-time in a subject you are passionate about. It’s also recommended that you prepare for at least 30 minutes ahead of each tutorial. Tutors are advised to hold sessions on weekdays, starting no later than 6:30pm.

Obviously, holidays and illness mean sometimes you will need to skip or postpone a session, where possible, it’s asked that you communicate this in advance so that the session can be rearranged or skipped as needed.

It’s recommended that you have the following to be able to tutor online:

• Access to a PC, laptop or tablet
• A stable internet connection
• Be familiar with using video chat or online conferencing platforms, and how to share documents online
• A quiet space without distractions (you may wish to use headphones)
• For optimal experience, it’s recommended using Google Chrome as your browser when tutoring

Training will be provided to make sure that you’ve got all the information you need to feel confident when you start tutoring.

Using this opportunity as evidence towards your Global Professional Award Electives?

If you complete any work for The Access Project, you may use this experience as evidence towards your Electives portfolio. The evidence required is a reflection of your personal and professional learning from engaging with the opportunity, which should be added to your Electives portfolio document. This will be found on your Brightspace GPA module.