- Home
- Our commitment to working with industry
- Working with our undergraduates
- The industrial placement year
- Postgraduate training for you and your staff
- Knowledge Transfer
- Collaborative research
- Research centres and research schools
- Download / order brochure
The industrial placement year
We are unique in offering an industrial placement with every single one of our undergraduate degree programmes. Each year, over 400 of our student engineers take a high quality, salaried, sandwich year work placement in one of 250 companies.
We strongly encourage the placement year and promote its many benefits. For the placement company, the students bring open minds and a solid foundation from the early years of their degree programmes, combined with the desire to take maximum advantage from their first substantial industrial experiences.
Many companies view the placement as a year-long ‘interview’ and many students make such an impression that they are offered a permanent job on graduation. Placements have a huge motivational effect on students – grades and degree classifications improve and the students are more likely to seek graduate positions in engineering.
-
National Instruments and Electronic, Electrical and Systems Engineering
National Instruments has a long and successful history of working closely with Loughborough, recruiting many placement students and graduates.
The multidisciplinary nature of Loughborough’s programmes, use of industry standard tools and team-based project work produce high quality, rounded engineers, with well-developed soft skills, as well as strong technical skills.
These are the traits we seek for our Engineering Leadership Programme and the ones needed to drive a successful career at NI.
Robert Morton Managing Director National Instruments UK & Ireland
-
Pure Structures Consulting Engineers and Civil and Building Engineering
The applied engineering emphasis of their courses makes Loughborough an obvious first choice for the recruitment of graduate engineers.
The placement year provides the opportunity for students to better understand the industry and make informed choices regarding their future career.
Our experience of Loughborough students is that they quickly engage as members of our team. The placement programme is a win-win opportunity for students and employers.
Michael Fisher Managing Director Pure Structures
-
Jaguar Land Rover and Materials
The modern motor vehicle requires a complex mix of materials technologies and, through the industrial placement scheme and our graduate recruitment, Jaguar Land Rover has benefitted from the skills of several high calibre Materials students from Loughborough.
They have consistently made excellent contributions to technical projects for current and future products.
In parallel, the individuals have developed new skills and put into practice their academic knowledge.
Andrew Haggie Manager, Materials Engineering Jaguar Land Rover
-
Nissan and Automotive Engineering
In my experience, Loughborough students are very capable and learn quickly. Before long, they can work autonomously and they quickly establish themselves as a key support for the engineers.
Placement students have the benefit of being coached by experienced engineers, in exchange the student brings additional knowledge in new technologies or software applications.
Their “fresh eyes” bring new ideas to improve day-to-day routines.
Jonathan Martinez Purchasing Section Manager Nissan International
-
Interserve and Civil and Building Engineering
We have offered placements to Loughborough students for many years, with almost all leading to sponsorship during their year(s) back at University and offers of employment upon graduation.
Students are allocated to a major UK project where they shadow an experienced engineer. Within a very short space of time, they have their own site management responsibilities.
Typical projects include prisons, schools and hospitals with a day-to-day focus on quality control, safety and environmental management.
Mike Wade Technical Services Manager Interserve Project Services Ltd
-
British Sugar and Mechanical Engineering
Our placements offer students useful insights for their final year of study and prepare them for the job market.
We see the placement year as a two-way interaction and students from Loughborough have frequently presented new ideas to managers that have influenced business decisions.
Jane Bunney Graduate Recruitment British Sugar
-
PepsiCo and Chemical Engineering
The Loughborough courses differentiate themselves by encouraging students to take a placement year and gain crucial industrial experience.
Loughborough attracts high calibre students making it the first choice for recruiting industrial placement engineers. Their experience makes them better informed about career direction and advantaged in gaining graduate roles.
Our placement engineers perform real jobs and deliver against challenging objectives from day one. Placements have enabled us to find world class talent.
Barbara Warburg Senior Innovation Engineer PepsiCo R&D Europe
-
Cummins and Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
Cummins are always pleased to receive applications from Loughborough students, knowing how well they perform on placement.
They get to know our business, they tell their friends about us and, of course, placement encourages them to join us when they graduate.
Attending Loughborough recruitment fairs is a great way to meet the students and promote our global opportunities.
Jo Chester Graduate Recruitment Support Manager Cummins