School of Chemistry

Industrial placement

The Year in Industry scheme provides you with the opportunity to experience salaried work before you graduate. Employers actively seek graduates who already have work experience and it can make all the difference in interviews. In addition, the opportunity to work every day with scientists who are experts in their field is an incredible opportunity to enhance your knowledge of chemistry.

An industrial placement will boost your self-confidence, not only in your chosen subject area, but in the marketplace generally. You will be able to choose from a range of pharmaceutical, oil, fine chemical, colour, polymer and other chemistry-related industries. In previous years, students have worked at many prestigious companies, including:

• AkzoNobel
• AstraZeneca
• Biofocus
• BP
• Croda
• Dominion Color (Canada)
• DSM (Netherlands)
• Fuji Film
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Lubrizol
• Pfizer
• Reckitt Benckiser
• Roche (Basel)
• Shell
• Yorkshire Water
  

A year in industry can benefit you by:

• Providing valuable experience in the corporate environment and an irreplaceable insight into your chosen career path
• Boosting your employability on graduation
• Giving you the opportunity to work as part of a team to deliver commercially valuable objectives
• Putting your academic learning into context by using it in a real-life situation
• Providing you with a salary for a year
• Helping you gain independence

How does it work?
The process starts at the beginning of your second year, when you will apply to companies of your choice. After securing a placement, you will then transfer onto a four-year 'industrial' version of your degree and spend your third year working full-time, returning to us for the fourth year.

During your year in industry you have an industrial supervisor from within the company, plus an academic supervisor who will keep in touch throughout your placement.

If you are not sure right now whether or not an industrial placement is right for you, don't worry, you will not have to give us a firm answer until the beginning of your second year.

For more information please contact the Undergraduate Admissions Office