The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary

The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary allows current postgraduate students to access UK-based work experience opportunities that are unpaid or are low-paid (i.e. in line with the national minimum wage) and are due to take place between January 2025 and August 2025. This may include:

• Internships
• Work shadowing
• Volunteering
• Presenting at conferences
• Attending an accredited CPD course
• And professional organisation membership fees

The bursary can contribute towards reasonable costs, including accommodation, conference tickets, access to CPD courses, travel expenses, and necessary clothing (e.g. a suit or other smart wear). Bursary funds are not to be used as a substitute for wages, and are to be used to contribute towards the cost of essential expenses.

The maximum amount you can request from The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary is £1500. All applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and may not be granted in full, so it is important that applications justify the requested costs. Applications for more than £1500 will only be considered in exceptional circumstances.

Applications will be reviewed in the first week of each month, or as soon as possible thereafter. As such, we advise that you submit your application at least one full month prior to the proposed start date of your work experience opportunity. This is to ensure that it can be approved in a timely fashion. For example, if your work experience opportunity is due to start in mid-April, we advise you submit your application in time for it to be reviewed at the start of March. Applications for retrospective work experience opportunities will not be granted.

Applications will remain open until May 31 2025, or until all funds have been allocated.

Please note that the above process and timeline may be subject to change (last updated: December 9 2024).

The bursary is designed to support students in accessing unpaid or low-paid (i.e. in line with the national minimum wage) work experience opportunities and contribute towards covering the costs associated therein. It is not designed to be a wage substitute. Depending on the individual circumstances of their proposed work experience opportunity, eligible students can apply for up to a maximum of £1500. All applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and may not be granted in full, so it is important that applications justify the requested costs. Applications for more than £1500 will only be considered in exceptional circumstances.

As a rough guide, we deem the following costs as reasonable:

• Modest and reasonable accommodation (not to cover usual rent costs) - up to £120 per day (e.g. university halls of residences in vacation periods, budget hotels, or similar)
• Travel - contributions toward reasonable public transport costs i.e. train tickets, bus travel, and coaches. Other transport costs may be approved, subject to individual circumstances and location.
• Formal clothing (including shoes) - up to £150 total (for opportunities where you will be required to work in an office where the dress code is smart or smart casual, i.e. in industries such as Investment Banking and Corporate Law. Other sources for clothing: https://smartworks.org.uk/)
• Other (e.g. course and conference fees, membership fees, insurance costs, a DBS check, and dependent care costs) – up to £200, and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary is open to current home and international postgraduate students who meet the following criteria:

• You must be an internally registered, enrolled postgraduate student (i.e. not a visiting scholar or at the University on an exchange programme) at the University of Birmingham. You must be registered to an Edgbaston campus degree programme and study as a campus-based learner or a distance learner. You may be either a Home student or an International student. Dubai-based students, external status students, or those on a Leave of Absence are not eligible for The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary.
  • Postgraduate Researchers are eligible if they are normally registered or if they are in ‘thesis awaited’. PGRs will not be eligible for The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary if their work experience opportunity is due to take place after their viva.
    • Postgraduate Researchers will remain eligible for The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary if they take a Leave of Absence, with agreement from their supervisory team, for the sole purpose of undertaking their work experience opportunity.
      
      
• You must have limited to no professional UK work experience, i.e. you have not held a salaried position that requires a university degree.
  
  
• You must not already be in receipt of Turing / Go Global, College or Student Development Funding, or College-based Travel Awards in the 2024-2025 academic year.
  
  
• You must have already provisionally secured a UK-based work experience opportunity which is unpaid or low-paid. This may include internships, work shadowing, volunteering, or presenting at conferences.
  • Alternatively, you must have already identified a CPD opportunity (e.g. an accredited course) or an organisation membership that will be of benefit to your future career and would incur a cost to access.
• Although all students who meet the above criteria will have their applications considered, priority will be given to applicants who meet at least one of the following criteria:
  • Be in receipt of a PGT Access Scholarship or be a 125th Anniversary Scholar;
  • Be a care leaver or care experienced;
  • Be in receipt of a Sanctuary Scholarship;
    
  • Be self-funding their postgraduate studies (i.e. not in receipt of tuition fee scholarships, UKRI funding, Doctoral Training Partnership funding, or similar);
  • Have a disclosed disability, or identify as disabled or neurodivergent.

Please note that The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary cannot be used to support placements which form part of a degree programme, e.g. industrial placements.

To apply for The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary, you will be required to submit an application form which asks for:

• Your personal details (e.g. name, ID number, UoB email address, course details, etc.).
• Your work experience opportunity details (e.g. organisation name, location, duration, etc.).
• A summary of your work experience opportunity.
• A budgetary breakdown outlining the funding you are applying for and what it will be used for.
• You to answer the following question: How will the proposed work experience contribute towards your personal and professional development, as well as your future career aspirations?

You will need to submit the following documents and information as part of your application. It is recommended that you complete these before beginning the Microsoft Forms application:

• Evidence showing that you have been accepted onto your work experience opportunity (i.e. an offer letter or confirmation email).
• Evidence of the dates the opportunity starts and finishes.
• A completed budget breakdown form outlining the total amount of funding you are applying for, how this will be used, and evidence of the costs included (e.g. screenshots of train ticket prices).
• A completed risk assessment form.
• A completed provider declaration form.

Please ensure that all of these documents and information are submitted and that they are titled with your name and student ID number. Please ensure that your name and student ID number appear in these documents. Your application will not be accepted if these documents and information are missing.

Apply for The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary here. Applications open on Monday 13th January 2025 at 9am.

Applications will be reviewed in the first week of each month, or as soon as possible thereafter. As such, we advise that you submit your application at least one full month prior to the proposed start date of your work experience opportunity. This is to ensure that it can be approved in a timely fashion. For example, if your work experience opportunity is due to start in mid-April, we advise you submit your application in time for it to be reviewed at the start of March.

Applications will remain open until May 31 2025, or until all funds have been allocated.

Please note that the above process and timeline may be subject to change (last updated: December 9 2024).

On completion of your work experience, you will be asked to complete a case study or write a LinkedIn post about your experience and complete our post-programme evaluation form.

Undertaking work experience also counts towards The Birmingham Award.

The Birmingham Award is the University of Birmingham's recognised free employability skills award for students of all levels, including postgraduates. The award supports you to develop and recognise the skills you gain through professional development activities, and how to articulate these skills in preparation for real-world recruitment processes. 

You can start your award anytime. Please visit The Birmingham Award website to get started. Find out more below and if you have any questions, please email: thebirminghamaward@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

If you have any questions about The Postgraduate Work Experience Bursary, please email us, using: workexperience@contacts.bham.ac.uk