Placements and Work-Based Learning Policy

2.1    Minimum wage rules and longer-term placements

2.1.1    Unpaid placements may not continue for more than twelve months and the work performed by the student must relate directly to their Course. Longer placements and other types of work fall outside the work placement minimum wage exemption. For more information visit the government guidance on the minimum wage.

2.1.2    Where a student is offered a role for longer than a year, they must have an employment contract. For advice contact your HR adviser or the Legal Team at legal@uel.ac.uk. Do not use the template placement agreement in appendix 2.

2.1.3    Any students completing an embedded academic placement as part of their degree programme at the university must be paid a minimum daily stipend payment of £20 per day to cover lunch and travel expenses. Further information can be found in the Stipend Payment Process document. The payment of the daily stipend would only apply to students on placements at UEL and not at academic partner institutions.

2.2    Further information and guidance

2.2.1    This can be found, for departments, students and providers, in Appendix 1. UEL employees involved in arranging and managing work placements should familiarise themselves with this guidance.

2.2.2    The placement coordinator, or member of academic staff, should satisfy themselves that each placement provider, whether allocated by UEL or independently found by the student, is suitable. Procedures for securing, approving and allocating placements should be transparent to all, and take into account, as a minimum:

• The suitability of the placement to allow students to successfully meet the learning outcomes of the placement.
• That the placement provider meets with Health and Safety requirements.
•  Any relevant professional, statutory or regulatory body (PSRB) requirements governing the suitability of placements.
• Student support on placements, including the mechanisms for dealing with any problems or complaints.
• Information should be given to students on the consequences of failure to either secure or complete a placement.

2.2.3    A risk-based approach should be used when checking the validity of placement hosts, particularly if independently sourced. This allows a lighter touch on companies with relatively low risk (well-known reputable organisations) and more rigorous control measures where the risk is higher (SME’s or small unknown organisations).

2.2.4    These checks are especially important for international students with Tier 4 visas as the Home Office expects rigorous checks on placement providers.

2.2.5  Fraudulent/fake placements

The University of East London is committed to ensuring the integrity and authenticity of work placements undertaken by our students. Work placement fraud undermines the educational experience and damages the reputation of both our students and our institution. Therefore, it is imperative that all students are aware of the risks associated with work placement fraud and understand the consequences of engaging in fraudulent activities.

It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that when completing the work placement application, the information provided is accurate and genuine. Should the Placements Team suspect the authenticity of the student’s placement, the Student Conduct Team will be notified, and this will be handled under the relevant Disciplinary procedure in accordance with the Academic Misconduct Regulations.

2.3    Health & Safety

2.3.1    The University is legally responsible for the safety and wellbeing of students while on placements. Therefore, health and safety and safeguarding must be covered in written placement agreements and highlighted during induction sessions. Where possible providers should have well-constructed arrangements around health and safety risk assessments.

2.3.2    Where a provider is too small to have formal policy and procedures it is still our responsibility to check that they have safe working practices to protect students. Students must also be made aware of relevant polices and systems, and of their own responsibility to follow placement provider health and safety polices and directions, to engage in safe working practices, and be given information about who to contact if they have health and safety or safeguarding concerns [about the work they are asked to do or the provider].

2.3.3    Please refer to the national guidance from the “Universities Safety and Health Association Safety & Health Association Guidance on Health & Safety on Placements for more details of the six factors to consider regarding the risk associated with a placement, i.e. work, travel and transportation, location and region, health and environment, individual student and insurance limitations.

2.3.4    Health & safety questions must be included in the Placement Agreement Form. This should be signed by the placement provider to confirm that they meet and follow current Health & Safety legislation and that they hold valid Employers Liability Insurance. A copy of the Employer Liability Insurance and a completed risk assessment (where the student is neither office nor home based but will be visiting third party premises) form should be requested.

2.3.5    Other areas for consideration are the sharing of expectations regarding ethical and commercial confidentiality, and data protection issues, which should occur at all stages of the partnership. Placement providers may request for students to sign additional documents with regards to data protection and confidentiality.

2.3.6    Please refer to the Universities UK Checklist for universities to help them support students in the transition to, during, and upon returning from a placement, so they are prepared for success in both this part of their course and beyond. The checklist explores what universities can do, in partnership with placement providers, to better support students going on placements to reduce mental health and well-being risks. Further guidance and support for staff has been created and can be accessed in the Placements Guidance UUK Checklist document.

2.4    Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)

2.4.1    If the placement involves working with children or vulnerable adults, there is a mandatory requirement for a satisfactory Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) enhanced disclosure certificate.

2.4.2    A DBS check provides details of any spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings, or whether local police hold any information that can reasonably be considered relevant to working with vulnerable groups.

2.4.3    See DBS and Occupational Health Checks for information about UEL policies and procedures relating to DBS Disclosure. 

2.5    Data Protection

2.5.1    The University and placement provider will be sharing personal data about the student, and it is very important that the parties make sure that this sharing meets mandatory legal standards. UEL [University] policies and guidance about these standards can be found at on the Data Protection webpages

2.5.2    For multiple placements a data sharing agreement is recommended. Contact the Information Governance Office on dpo@uel.ac.uk for advice and the Legal team on legal@uel.ac.uk for a template agreement which can be tailored for your placements.

2.6    Placement Administration

2.6.1    The department should ensure accurate and up-to-date records and documentation are kept for all placement students. This includes:

• Details of all students on placement at any time
• Details of the placement including start and end dates
• Placement host details (supervisor, address, telephone number, business email address)

Signed tripartite Placement Agreement Form (or the Extended Work Project Agreement Form (PART 2 Appendix 2)

• Copy of Employers Liability Insurance (where required)
• Student and employer evaluation forms
• Record of attendance (for Tier 4 students)

2.7    Tier 4 Student Placements – Mandatory Reporting and Monitoring

2.7.1    As rules for overseas students studying in the UK change constantly, the department must seek up-to- date advice from the International Students Compliance team (points.based.system@uel.ac.uk).

2.7.2    These requirements are necessary so that the University [UEL] meets Home Office requirements. If we do not do this, the University [UEL] could lose its Tier 4 licence and international students will be unable to  study on UEL campuses.  Universities which have lost their licences usually do not get them back for several years. 

2.7.3    The department must inform the Compliance team in advance of all Tier 4 placements.

2.7.4    The department must also:

Carry out due diligence (outlined in 3.3) on all placement providers to ensure that they meet UKVI requirements. 

• Share address and details for each placement with the International Students Compliance team. 
• Communicate the significance of compliance with Home Office regulations to the placement provider. 
• Ensure that the Placement Agreement includes robust mechanisms to monitor Tier 4 student attendance. 
• Make sure that attendance for Tier 4 students on placement is strictly monitored by the department/placement coordinator/compliance team. A process should be agreed with the compliance team. 
• Report changes to the placement circumstances promptly to the Compliance team so they can notify UKVI.

2.7.5    Further information can be found in the Home Office Guidance for Tier 4 Applications.

2.8    Placement Agreement

• The purpose of the placement learning activity and its intended learning outcomes.
• Contact details for the student, the department and the placement provider.
• Duration and hours of attendance.
• The name of a mentor and/or supervisor who would be responsible for assisting the student in fulfilling the learning outcomes for the placement.
• A named supervisor.
• Details of renumeration.
• Any assessment requirements arising out of the placement.
• The responsibilities of the student, university and placement provider.

2.8.2    For a template agreement form see Appendix 2.

2.8.3    For advice on placement agreements please contact the Legal team at Legal@uel.ac.uk.

2.9    Placement Learning Assessment

2.9.1    Departments should provide detailed information about the assessment as part of the programme specification and placement handbook. This should include how credit is awarded for placement learning activities, or details of the requirements as part of the programme where no credit is awarded.

2.9.2    Departments can use a variety of assessment methods to encourage students to reflect on their placement learning, including reports, projects, case studies, peer assessment, group seminars, diaries and reflective logbooks.

2.10    Placement Monitoring and Evaluation

2.10.1    Departments should collect feedback from placement students in order to ensure that they are benefiting from the experience and that they are treated fairly and equally. Departments are also strongly encouraged to obtain feedback from the placement providers.

2.10.2    Where a number of placements are taking place within a department, the results of student evaluations of these activities should inform departmental programme review processes. The information should be used to measure the impact of work- based learning experiences and to inform good practice.

2.10.3    A number of evaluation forms for students and placement hosts are built into the career’s management platform, Career Zone, which has a module to support placement administration. For the student this includes a pre and post work-based learning skills audit, mid-point review, self-evaluation and placement evaluation.

The employer completes an evaluation of the student’s work on the placement.

2.10.4    Students should be given the opportunity to reflect on their placement learning experiences. This could be incorporated into assessment tasks, or as part of a group exercise. The reflection exercise should require the student to articulate the experience gained, providing examples to demonstrate where skills have been developed. They should also be asked to translate this experience into their CV/covering letter and think about how they will leverage the opportunity in their job search.

2.10.5    Departments should consider a periodic review of placements, to ensure that these remain appropriate to the aims and learning outcomes of the programme.

2.11    Management of issues during placement

2.11.1    Students should raise placement concerns with their Placement Supervisor and their University contact (Academic Lead and/or Placement Team) in the first instance.

2.11.2    The University will investigate promptly, keep the student informed, and take appropriate action, including arranging an alternative placement where necessary, ensuring students are supported and not disadvantaged for raising concerns.

2.11.3    Common issues or causes for concern that might lead to a placement being terminated may fall into one of the following categories:

• there is a risk to the health or personal safety of the student.
• the placement might not be providing the appropriate experience to allow the relevant learning outcomes to be fulfilled. 
• the student does not feel that they are being supported effectively during the placement.
• the conduct or practice of the student might be inappropriate or pose a risk to the health and safety of others.
• the student cannot complete the placement for reasons of health or well- being.
• difficulties arise because of the relationship between the student and the placement supervisor.

2.11.4    This guidance outlines procedures to be followed to determine if termination of the placement is appropriate. The procedures aim to ensure that the relevant parties are advised of the situation in a timely manner and that actions are progressed appropriately.

2.11.5    In the first instance, informal process, the student should be encouraged to speak to their placement supervisor to try to resolve any issues between them. If the information action does not result in the resolution of the issue for either party, or if the relationship is such that the informal stage is not possible, then for more serious cases it is advised that a process such as the one below is followed by the department.

• Stage 1 - Information is received: Information may be received by the University from the student or the placement provider. 
• Stage 2 - A consultation meeting to take place (normally within an agreed timeframe of 5 working days). This will consider:
  • The nature of the information and its seriousness.
  • The steps to be undertaken and by whom to determine the validity of the information.
  • Whether suspension of the placement should occur or continue while the enquiry is ongoing. The University should also consider whether it wishes to place the student on suspension.
  • A timetable for the enquiry should be agreed to include the setting up of a meeting to consider the findings.
  • Other areas for consideration will be determined dependent on the case in question. Those invited to this meeting should include representatives from each of the organisations involved (This meeting would not normally include the placement student). A report is written and considered at Stage 3.
• Stage 3 - Following the enquiry and completion of a report:
  • A meeting will be held to consider the report, which will have been shared in advance with the student. This meeting will then determine whether the placement should continue or be terminated.
  • This meeting will normally occur within the agreed timeframe of 5 working days of the meeting at stage 2.
  • As a result of this determination there may be further actions taken by the University and the placement provider. Equally there may be no action to be taken by any party.
  • Stage 4 - Where the meeting at Stage 3 confirms concerns, the formal report of the decision will be communicated to all parties within the agreed timeframe.
  • Where it is decided under Part 1 or Part 2 that the student’s placement should be terminated, then at that point information with regard to the premature ending will be communicated to the student and next actions agreed.

2.12   Institutional oversight, governance and data capture

2.12.1    The Careers and Student Enterprise team, (CaSE), as a central service has overall responsibility to report institutionally the number of students completing work-based learning activity at the university.

2.12.2    To enable CaSE to accurately report on this, work-based learning data must be accessible and made available to it by all departments whose students are undertaking work-based learning.

2.12.3    Departments must, where reasonably possible, record work-based learning data on the UEL Career Zone platform (careers management platform). This facilitates data capture centrally, allows for university-wide reporting and encourages consistency and best practice.

2.12.4    Departments must ask students to add details of their work-based learning to the Work Based Learning Scheme on the Career Zone platform where reasonably possible.

2.12.5    Departments can, in addition, then use the use ‘Pathways’ on the Career Zone to provide a step-by-step process for students to obtain, record and evaluate placements as part of their work-based-learning courses. Departments can be supported by CaSE to create these pathways on request to link to specific programmes.

2.12.6    If the ‘Pathways’ is not required then students should strongly be encouraged to record evidence of the skills gained through the work-based learning activity using the “Competency Statements” on the Career Zone, which will be linked to the student’s Careers Passport as evidence of the knowledge and skills gained during the work-based learning.

2.12.7    For Professional Placements Programmes, where data is captured and stored by departments to meet the requirements of the professional bodies, and where it is not possible to use the Career Zone platform to record data, then departments must provide the data of all work-based learning activity and provide access to this data to CaSE as and when requested.

2.13   Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

2.13.1    UEL is subject to the Public Sector Equality Duty, which means that we have an overall responsibility to take steps wherever possible to eliminate discrimination and promote equality in the discharge of our functions.

2.13.2    Placements play a critical role in equalising employment opportunities, given a graduate job market where persistent disparities remain. We will engage with a wide range of employers – some of whom will have well-developed EDI procedures and practices, whilst others will have a basic awareness of the law but little else in practice.

2.13.3    It is important that employers are aware of our responsibility and commitment to EDI; we also need to adopt some flexibility in working with them to safeguard our students whilst also promoting the benefit to them of a positive stance on EDI.

2.13.4    When working with placement hosts/employer partners it is important to ensure they work towards and are compliant with equality, diversity and inclusion policies and processes which align with UEL’s EDI statement which states that:

UEL is one of the most diverse and inclusive universities in the UK. Equality of opportunity, inclusion and courage are fundamental values at UEL. This isn’t just an aspiration. It is who we are and what we do…We aim to deliver sector-leading outcomes by advancing an inclusive, respectful and anti-racist environment for staff, students, and stakeholders.

2.13.5    When working with placement hosts/employer partners it would be useful to:

• Check the organisation’s website to review their EDI statements/policies
• Check if they have an EDI team/department
• Share the UEL EDI statement (highlighted in italics above) to ensure they understand what UEL stand for and that they are fully aligned with our EDI processes.

2.13.6    UEL supports positive action measures, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, in pre-recruitment processes where it is reasonable to think that disadvantage or low participation of a “protected group” as identified in the Equality Act 2010, which include gender, ethnicity, disability and sexuality, is a factor contributing to unequal opportunities. The intention of this is to broaden the pool of suitable applicants for roles in an industry or with an employer.

2.13.7    For further guidance, advice or support please contact the Office for Institutional Equity at oie@uel.ac.uk.

2.13.8    An Equality Impact Assessment accompanying this policy has been completed and submitted to the Office for Institutional Equity at oie@uel.ac.uk.