Stage 1:
Expression of interest: If you want to look into applying for a placement then you need to let your Academic Advisor know. They can help you to navigate the process of looking for a placement, helping you understand what would be a good line of enquiry to take according to your interests and skills and they can also recommend some opportunities to try and get involved with to boost your CV. Our module leader for the placement module is Matt Lawson and you can contact him using matt.lawson@brookes.ac.uk.
You can also contact our careers link to get further support with some CV development such as CV360 or interview practice with an impressive AI interview tool. He can also advise you on different aspects of looking for a placement as well.
MJP students contact Marija Murthwaite from careers using: mmurthwaite@brookes.ac.uk
All other UG students in the School contact Pete Smillie using psmillie@brookes.ac.uk
Ultimately it is your responsibility to find the placement – we do not do the job for you! But once you have found your placement you have further work to do to get it approved.
Stage 2:
A Placement Approval and Risk Assessment is the next form you will need to complete and send in to Brookes Creative. It is important we sign off your placement because without our formal approval we won’t be able to confirm with your subject coordinator that they are good to sign off on the change of study mode and you need that in order for your academic record to change to sandwich mode. This step is really important due to student fees and finance. Plus for International Students if you don’t get your placement formally signed off this could contradict your Visa Requirements. The Placement Approval Form can be downloaded following the link below.
Stage 3:
The Employer needs to be sent the Employer Handbook and they will be required to complete the Health and Safety Questionnaire in Appendix 3 (if UK based) or Appendix 4 (If Overseas). You should send this handbook to them asking them politely if they could complete the Appendix (3 or 4) and send back to you to confirm they have also read through the handbook. You can download it below.
Stage 4:
Once you have your Placement Approval form completed and the Employer has returned their Health and Safety questionnaire (found in the Employer Handbook Appendix 3 or 4) you will need to send these to the module leader so they can sign off the Placement officially. They will also run through your Placement Plan for the year and go through the module guide so you are aware of the key assessment deadlines and the requirements of you as a student whilst on placement. This is will be an important online meeting for signing off your placement and without this meeting you will not be allowed to continue to the placement.
Stage 5: Changing your Mode of Study
Because you will be taking an additional year to complete your degree we need to change your mode of study from Full-Time to ‘Sandwich Mode’. Students can use form M38 to change their mode of study from ‘full-time’ to ‘sandwich mode’ (which means the you are on your placement year). This can be downloaded here and then returned to studentrecords@brookes.ac.uk in order to change the mode of study: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/students/your-studies/student-request-forms/undergraduate/
Please note that the same form is available on Moodle (in the ‘Forms’ section which is usually at the bottom of the left column on the main page) as a different form number; on Moodle it is form “F37: Request a Change to your Mode of Study”.
Although the placement module leader approves the placement opportunity, it is the Subject Coordinator who must sign the M38 form as it changes the student’s expected completion date and thus has implications for how their studies will progress. The Subject Coordinator and the Module Leader will need to communicate in order for you to complete this process.
Stage 5a: Enrolling
You will still be required to enroll with the University in September so if you keep checking your student emails you will receive notification of this. You must enroll otherwise you will be put on unapproved temporary withdrawal. The university need to update student finance in reagrds to your tuition fees and this will trigger that information. So please make sure you enroll in time for week 1.
Stage 6: International Students Only
The International Student Advice Team will need to be informed that you are applying to study the Sandwich Mode option of your programme and will need to have this formally acknowledged for your Visa. You can contact the ISAT team by emailing ISAT@brookes.ac.uk.