Undergraduate Employability

The Professional Practice Year (also known as placement year, year in industry, etc.) is a fantastic way for undergraduate students to gain experience in a field relevant to their degree. The PPY opportunity bridges the gap between not having relevant work experience when graduating, and having a well-rounded experience at university. Students are supported throughout their degree to find their placement opportunity through virtual information sessions and through guidance, as well as connecting with employers and opportunities through the Global Experiences Team, who look after undergraduate employability within the business school.

If you’re an undergraduate student in Level 1 or 2, and would like to know more about the PPY, get in touch with the team to find out more! Otherwise, consult the PPY Blackboard site, which contains all the information you need. You will have been enrolled automatically on this Blackboard module, so if you cannot access it please email us.

All CoASSH students are invited to compete against teams from other universities in the UBC Undergraduate Challenge!

Universities Business Challenge is the UK’s leading competition for developing employability and enterprise skills, commercial awareness, and networking experience, where teams of students simulate running a business over several trading periods.

Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to compete with other universities on a national scale, while growing your professional network and developing your employability. UBC awards all teams a certificate of participation to add to your CV and gives cash prizes to the winners!

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Taking part in the UBC contributes towards your Global Certificate and Lincoln Award.

Teams will be supported by the Global Experiences Team and academic advisors.

Applications are currently open for the Academic Year 2023-24. Applications must be received by 17:00 on Friday 15th October.

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If you want to know what students think of it, here’s what last year’s UG team said about the experience!

• Oscar: “The semi-finals put me out my comfort zone and encouraged me to think on the spot, use my initiative and network with others in a peer-to-peer environment. A piece of advice I would give for future contestants in this challenge would be to just give it a go!”

• Molly: “It was a great opportunity for networking with young people with similar interests to myself and others with much more experience. The talks from successful individuals were inspiring and motivational which overall topped off the experience, as well as the trip to London itself!”

• Alexine: “Although I believe I would have benefitted from preparing more for the semi-finals, a lot of it is based on the unexpected, which is why teamwork comes in handy as I found we were able to combine our skills in order to be successful. Overall, I believe this was a great experience to partake in and would highly recommend getting involved in it.”

The LIBS Global Experiences Team, who look after undergraduate employability in the business school, have previously run funded field trips which have included an employability-focused visit to businesses and organisations. In the 2022-23 academic year our employability trips were to Killarney, Ireland and London. The Killarney trip featured excursions to local businesses and companies, national parks, and employability focused workshops, and enhanced the student understanding of how local tourism benefits economies, as well as the skills and experience employers look for within job roles and applications. The London trip also took students to the CPID Festival of Work to allow students to network with employers, as well as visits to the Taj Hotel in St James Court and the Bloomberg headquarters in the City, which expanded upon students’ understanding of Bloomberg through the university’s very own Bloomberg Suite.

Watch closely for news of the next employability trip! The below application link is not live currently but will be soon.