Learning..Doing..Knowing

The Year in Industry programme in its present form came into being in September 2009. To date there have been five cohorts of students who have graduated. The programme runs over four years. In March of the first year we meet the student in small groups and begin a business focused awareness conversation with them. After summer examinations we hold a commercial awareness day comprising, skills workshops, employer panels, business networking with our students on placement, and those who have returned for their final year. The second year of the programme comprises dedicated skills workshops and one-to-one support for the student seeking a placement. The third year, when the student is on placement, is shaped by an academic framework. This framework helps the student to make sense of their curriculum and provides a robust base for their fourth and final year, when this sense making is fed back into their final year curriculum and graduate job applications. The Year in Industry programme is an accredited activity and contributes 50% to the student’s second year results and is 12.5% of their degree.

The Year in Industry Programme Manager and Academic Tutor Dr Pat Jones said:

"My first cohort of students had taken up their placements when I joined the Business School in August 2009. I put in place an enhanced academic framework for September 2009, firmly embedding the programme within the curriculum. The cohort assessed under this framework graduated in 2011, with 10 students achieving a first class degree and 33 an upper second degree. The programme has grown in popularity and the excellent performance of the student has been sustained."

We are now witnessing the impact of the Year in Industry student, sharing and enabling other students, these virtuous circles are spiralling across each year of the degree encompassing our early career alumni.

There are 70 students due to return to the Business School in October for their fourth and final year; 84 students have taken up their placement for 2015/16, and each student will receive a placement visit. In 2015/16 the Team will be working with 120 students who have opted for the Year in Industry option and who will take up their placements in 2016/17.

The Business School has invested in the Year in Industry Programme and the Team has grown by two Placement Officers, Rosalind McMeakin joined the Team in September 2012, (from an employability-related role at Coventry University, and pre this from Executive Recruiters, Perrett Laver). Karina Smith joined in August 2014 (after completing the Graduate Trainee Scheme of the University). Dr Geraint Harvey is currently the Director of the BSc in Business Management pathways, Professor Kiran Trehan is Academic Lead and Moderator for the assessed component of the Year in Industry programme since April 2012, and Rita Green recently joined the UG Office at University House as Administrator for the Year in Industry Programme and the Working Abroad Programme.

We are acutely aware our students are ambassadors for the Degree Programme, the Business School and the University. Our students take placements predominantly in multi-national companies, although we expect numbers opting for an SME experience in the UK to increase significantly in the future. If any member of Faculty would like to discuss company contacts, or would like to know in greater detail about any aspect of the programme, please contact the Team.

• BBS-YINI-Placements@Contacts.bham.ac.uk
• Follow us on Twitter @BBS_YINI_Team