MEng Industrial Placements

Students are responsible for finding their own placements. Advice and help are available, both in the Department and from the Imperial College Careers Service.  You will also find some information here on how to find placements.  

• To help you understand more about the placement experience, we have asked previous students to share their  placement experiences to help you in your search. These case studies can be found on the course page on Blackboard. 
• Details of Industrial Placement opportunities offered to the students in the Department can be viewed on InPlace: https://icl-stu-uk.inplacesoftware.com/home. 

 Log in using your usual College login. 

• All placements must be approved by the Industrial Placements Team on behalf of the Department.   
• Please do not sign a contract with your placement provider until your placement has been approved by the EEE Industrial Placements Team.
• Placements run for 6 months from April to September 2023. They should last for a minimum of 22 weeks excluding any annual leave. It is expected that students on a placement will be able to take “leave” of 15 working days during the 6 months, making the placement a total of 25 weeks minimum. 
• Your placement must be undertaken in one company only for the full six month period. It is not possible for you to split the six month period into multiple, shorter placements. For example, you can’t do three months at one company and move to a different company for the second three months.
• If you are considering a placement outside the UK, you are responsible for ensuring that you have the right to work in that country or resolve the issue with the company directly. 
• Work undertaken during the industrial placement must be relevant to the degree programme being followed. The content must be challenging and allow the student to demonstrate application of engineering knowledge and skills to a technical problem. Even if you are on the management stream, your role must include EEE technical skills (it can’t be a purely project management role in a non-technical area).
• There is no restriction in terms of  the sector of the economy in which the hosting organisation operates, provided the first criteria is met. Thus, work in the voluntary sector (such as Engineers without Borders, etc) could qualify as long as the placement is remunerated at a suitable level.  
• Work in a technical function of the finance industry, such as designing and building software models or databases would qualify, but functions such as routine IT support would not.  
• Clarify any confidentiality and contractual arrangements before signing any contracts.
• Complete and upload the “Job Specification Form 2023-24”and the “Placement Provider Form 2023-24” to InPlace, ensuring they are fully completed with all information filled out. 
• We will endeavour to review your InPlace documentation within 5 working days. 
• The deadline for approval of your placement is Monday 26 February 2024  

Professional conduct

Please note that declining a placement once you have accepted it and signed a contract is deemed unacceptable and unprofessional behaviour which damages the College's reputation. It also damages the relationship with the department which has normally been nurtured for years and puts future students at a disadvantage.  Behaviour of this kind will normally result in the student failing the module.

How to submit a “self-placement” on InPlace 

If you have found your placement and received an offer, you will need to submit a self-placement on InPlace for approval.  Once you log into InPlace, you will need to click on the “Self-Placement” link, which should look like this: 

• You must provide a detailed description of the project you will be doing and the supervision you will receive from the company.  
• Complete and upload the “Job Specification Form” and the “Industrial Placement Advert Proforma”, ensuring they are fully completed with all information filled out. Please note that placements will not be approved without a thorough project description.  You should work with your proposed employer to provide this information. 
• If you are considering a placement outside the UK, you are responsible for ensuring that you have the right to work in that country or resolve the issue with the company directly. 
• The “Job Specification Form” must be filled out by your employer because it contains important information regarding your supervision and safety whilst on the placement.  It might also be useful to send your employer a copy of the College Placement Learning Policy  
• Clarify any confidentiality and contractual arrangements before signing any contracts. 
• Once your forms are completed, please upload them to your self-placement on InPlace and then submit the self-placement.  
• The InPlace submission will be reviewed and either approved or returned for additional information.  
• We will endeavour to review your InPlace documentation within 5 working days. 
• The deadline for approval of your placement is Monday 26 February 2024  

 Important: The deadline above is for final approval, so please submit your placement to InPlace in advance of the deadline so that we have time to review it.  

Once your placement is approved or the deadline above has passed, you will not be able to switch to a different placement.

You can access InPlace here: https://www.inplace.imperial.ac.uk/. 

• • September – Beginning of February = Find a placement and seek approval. 
  • 26 February = Final deadline for you to have submitted your placement on InPlace and for it to have been approved. 
  • February to April = Meet with your Imperial Placement Supervisor to agree objectives. 
  • April – September = You undertake your placement 
  • October = Return to your final year of studies 

Industrial placements will be supervised by a member of staff from the company, with additional mentoring from academic staff from Imperial, who will be involved in agreeing project objectives and in assessment.  

In addition, you should set up an academic visit (in person or virtual) for your Imperial supervisor to meet both you and your industrial supervisor. The purpose of this visit is to review the work you have done to date and discuss the work for the remainder of the placement.  

Please go to the module page on Blackboard to view full list of documents and procedures for the placements.  

Industrial placement students must be paid for their work.  The College does not stipulate a rate of pay, but we expect students to be paid a salary of at least the current minimum wage, or higher.   

Other statutory terms and conditions will also apply, including holiday leave allowance.  These conditions will be part of the contract of employment or appointment letter agreed between the company and their employee, i.e. the Student. 

It is expected that students on a placement will be able to take “leave” of 15 working days during the 6 months. 

The Industrial Placement module is reviewed at the September meeting of the Board of Examiners at the end of your third year. 

Some of the partner universities in the year abroad scheme begin their academic year in late August or early September , not allowing students to complete the required 22 weeks of the Industrial Placement. 

If you are taking the Year Abroad route you will need to resolve the conflict yourself if it arises by either not taking the industrial placement option, or by choosing a university abroad with a later start. Placements shorter than 22 weeks will not be approved.  

The successes and challenges of my work placement - Katarzyna Zukowska 

 “Having just finished my placement, I have a lot of thoughts on what met my expectations and where I could do better during that time. As part of my Electrical and Electronic Engineering degree, I had an opportunity to do a six-month internship over the last term of my third year and the summer. Now that I’m going into my fourth and final year of study, I can fully recognise just how much it has shaped my career goals.”  Read more at: https://blogs.imperial.ac.uk/student-blogs/author/katarzyna/