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The purpose of this paper is to explain how employability and entrepreneurship embedded in the practice of professional placements in a large UK Business School, grounded in literature and research concerning the relationship between professional experience and employability. It explores possible further developments of this practice into student entrepreneurship.

The paper outlines the relevant literature and then describes the operation of the scheme in practice. It identifies relevant problems and discusses opportunities for both development and research.

Professional experience is of immense value to both students and the organisations that host them. Despite reluctance on the part of some of these two key stakeholders, it has the potential for further expansion in terms of number of students on placement, their location, their experience and integrating placements with entrepreneurship education.

Organisations may see the benefit of employing students on one year or shorter contracts. Universities not currently offering professional placements within the curriculum to their students may wish to adopt best practice and those that are already involved may wish to consider the optional/compulsory element of the placement experience in order to address the reticence of many students to secure this experience. The paper suggests solutions to the well‐established question “Can entrepreneurship be taught?” by investigating the idea of Enterprise Placements.

The paper helps to explain, in a practical way, the opportunities and problems associated with the implementation of a placement scheme in the context of relevant literature.

This paper provides a discussion on the implementation of formal assessment of work placement within a retail sandwich degree at the Manchester Metropolitan University. Outlines the Retail Marketing degree and placement programme. Explains the key components of placement assessment: professional practice; personal skills and the placement project. Concludes that successful assessment relies on careful briefing and preparation of students prior to placement and close liaison between placement tutor, employer and student during the sandwich period.

Discusses sandwich placements and their importance at Sheffield Hallam University. Outlines the Business Studies degree programme and the assessment procedure of work placements, mentioning its role in final degree assessment. Lists problems of assessment, and criticisms from the employers’ points of view. Finally, provides a framework for a new programme based on both the competence approach and a survey of placement companies.

Using a sample of 446 secondary students who had participated in a vocational education and training in school (VETiS) program, compares the experiences and perceptions of students who had undertaken a work placement with those who had not. Shows that students who had participated in work placement enjoyed the VETiS experience more than those who had not, and that the work placement had assisted them in their decision whether to stay at school or not. A factor analysis of results showed a factor associated with self‐confidence about employability, and a factor associated with assistance in achieving specific post‐school employment. Students who had completed a work placement were significantly higher on both these factors than students who had not. Results are consistent with other research in the field, and it is argued that the work placement experience plays a considerable part in developing student agency in the decisions and the journey that they make in their transition from school to work.

Argues the hypothesis that practical placements for students of librarianship are especially problematic as the student, often straight from school, needs experience of the “world of work” and its expectations as well as specifically library and information work. These two needs may conflict, resulting in demotivation for students and frustration for the host. Describes the placement pattern at UNL School of Information and Communications Studies and discusses how it is seen to address these problems: a short first placement in the second year helps to acclimatize the student to the expectations of the workplace, while the second, longer placement in the third year, linked closely to a management module, focuses the student′s attention on the specifics of work in a library or information unit.

Drawing on human capital theory and sustainable career theory, this paper aims to explore the impact of undertaking an industrial placement on the “Great Eight” competencies as perceived by university students and line managers.

618 students and their line managers across three cohorts (pre-COVID-19) took part in a longitudinal quantitative study. Students completed a three-wave questionnaire at the placement's start, middle, and end. Line managers completed the questionnaire during waves two and three to offer 360-degree feedback. Descriptive statistics and repeated measures ANOVA were applied to the dataset.

The impacts of undertaking a placement were highly variable for different competencies at the sub-scale level, although at the eight-scale level, the nuance was less pronounced. However, students self-perceived that all eight competencies increased between the start and end of the placement. Surprisingly, line managers perceived students' competencies to be higher than perceived by the students.

The value of undertaking a placement is often poorly measured (e.g. satisfaction) rather than competency-based outcomes, which can lead to conclusions that are overly simplistic and difficult to use in practice. Theoretically, this study advances understanding of human capital theory and sustainable career theory by understanding the role placements can play in developing human capital and preparing university students for sustainable careers. Practically, the findings of this study can help to close the university–industry skills gap by informing curriculum and placement scheme design and supporting students to acquire personal resources and signal these to prospective employers as an antecedent to career sustainability.

The paper looks at the feasibility of university placements supporting small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to operate in a sustainable manner. Due to size and resource constraints, many SMEs may regard sustainability more as a burden than a value-adding commercial strategy.

A two-year study was conducted on the sustainability-themed placements of 101 students of De Montfort University, United Kingdom, in SMEs. The placements were designed with the purpose of acting as a traditional work experience scheme while also equipping students with learning, skills and orientation with which to act as sustainability champions within companies. The study combined the use of students' reflections (via tools such as monthly logbooks) with interviews and questionnaire surveys of both employers and students, in order to evaluate the outcomes of the placements.

Students engaged with the sustainability aspect of their placements mainly by obtaining information on the sustainability performance of SMEs, with significant engagement also occurring in the areas of sustainability advocacy (e.g. proposing socio-environmental plans to companies) and initiatives/action.

Placements can potentially serve as a means of knowledge generation for universities while providing SMEs with cost-effective staff and innovation sustainability resources.

A circular approach to university placement programmes is proposed whereby the knowledge gained from previous placements about SMEs' sustainability performance is used to prepare later cohorts of placement students with a pragmatic understanding of challenges and opportunities related to the implementation of sustainability by SMEs.

There is strong evidence that year-long work placements make students more employable and produces better academic performance. Despite this, UK participation rates remain stubbornly low. The authors examine the influence of academic performance on students' willingness and ability to complete work placements.

This study’s novel conceptual framework distinguishes students by their intentions regarding work placements indicated at enrolment as well as whether they completed a work placement. The authors use a sample of 226 business and economics students, employing propensity score weighted multiple regression to analyse the influence of academic performance.

The results indicate that academic performance has a significant influence on the decision to include a work placement option at enrolment. For those students who do pursue work placements, first-year academic performance had a significantly positive impact on their ability to secure a placement job. Finally, completion of a work placement was beneficial to final year academic performance.

Work placements are beneficial. Since low academic performance deters students from pursuing such opportunities, universities may need to communicate the benefits better to encourage greater interest. Further, universities need to realistically manage the expectations of students with low academic performance who want to do work placements and provide targeted support during the application process. Furthermore, alternatives to work placements should be provided.

This research adds to the literature investigating the influence of academic performance through academic self-concept on students' investment decisions to include a work placement in their degree study and in students' ability to secure a work placement.

This paper aims to report on the outcomes of a survey of organisations in Australia and Slovenia hosting undergraduate Library and Information Studies (LIS) students on professional placement to better understand the reasons behind organisations accepting students, the workload implications and their satisfaction with the process.

Hosting organisations were asked to complete a survey on various aspects of the placement process.

For both countries, hosts reported favourably on their experience, and virtually, all felt that while it was a real commitment of time and resources on their part, it was a responsibility they were happy to take on. There was little difference between the two cohorts, suggesting that the findings from this research may be an accurate picture of the situation for LIS placements hosts more generally. The positive view of the placement and the belief in its role in LIS education is further strengthened by this study.

The research suggests that hosting students is not seen as an onerous task, but one which brings benefits to both parties. This will be useful in promoting student placements when looking for new host opportunities.

This study has added to the limited literature in the LIS field on the experience of host organisations. Obtaining similar results across two countries added to the reliability of the findings which will help inform those planning future student placements.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors relating to retention of employers on an undergraduate work placement programme in a third level institution.

An action research methodology involving problem diagnosis, intervention planning, action and evaluation is employed. The diagnosis involved a survey of 130 employers that had taken students on placement during the first two years of the placement programme. The action research also involved workshops with the work placement team and the making of an intervention with respect to enhancing the placement process through the introduction of a Priority Partner initiative for 26 of the employers.

The survey findings reveal differences in the ranking of importance of college selection criteria by employers, as well the impact of the placement manager's characteristics on the placement process. The intervention findings show that the employer retention percentage increased for the Priority Partners but remained the same for the other employers.

The study reports qualitative findings in the context of a placement programme in one institution which limits external validity.

Employer retention would seem to be improved with the development of a customer relations management orientation with employers. The role of the placement manager is pivotal to enhancing the retention of employers as is the quality and professionalism of the work placement service.

New empirical data extends the very limited understanding of company retention on work placement programmes.