PROFESSIONAL PLACEMENT YEAR - 2023/4

Module Overview

The professional placement year module provides student with the opportunity to undertake a supervised learning experience in the workplace. Before the placement year, the module supports students with identifying and developing a range of employability skills to enhance the chances of securing employment and advance their personal awareness, professional conduct, technical skills and application of academic knowledge. The module expects students to demonstrate an ability to search, shortlist and secure appropriate employment in an area relevant to their programme of study. During the placement year, the learning experience is supervised, and students are expected to undertake a project focused on an issue identified by a placement(host) organisation. The project ensures students gain practical work experience in a specific job role, employ evidence-based reasoning and deliver a substantial contribution to the placement organization.

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

SOTUNDE Deji (SBS)

Number of Credits: 60

ECTS Credits: 30

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Year long

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

To pass progress from year one and have secured an approved work placement.

Module content

Indicative content includes:

  In Semester 1 of Year 1 students participate in a series of workshops that are focused on developing their employability skills such as setting up their job profile, job search and updating relevant application documents (CV, cover letter, supporting statements). They also engage independently with employers through interviews and events to secure a professional work placement.

  In Year 2 student undertake a supervised professional placement experience focused on two interrelated sets of learning outcomes: professional development and application of knowledge from the programme through participation in a specific work/project context.

  Both aspects of the learning experience are supervised by an academic supervisor as well as a workplace supervisor in the placement organisation. Under their guidance, students undertake work responsibilities and tasks appropriate to the placement job role and relevant to their programme of study.

  With the support of both supervisors, students strive to make a substantial contribution to the placement organisation and to develop their professional profile and career prospects.

  They present the results of their work and reflect on their personal and professional development in a Professional Placement Year Portfolio (PDR and project report).

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:

• Critical self-reflection and evaluate a range of employability skills and aptitude that contributes to personal and professional development


• Evidence-based reasoning to advance their personal, professional, and academic skills gained through practical work experience relevant to their programme of study

During the professional placement year, students with a secured employment, will develop the capacity to manage proprietary processes, products and engage with multiple perspective of business issues. They will receive formative and summative feedback from (at least any two from) their work supervisor, academic supervisor, and/or the Placement Tutor.

  Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• Oral and written formative and summative feedback through a Personal Development Plan and Personal Development Review meetings with student, employer, and university.


• Written summative feedback on Professional Placement Year Portfolio based on the entirety of the student’s work placement experience. This portfolio showcases the student’s achievement in the work placement job role and their personal and professional development throughout the professional placement year. This is a marked assessment worth 100% of the module mark.

Students receive written summative feedback on completed:

• Employability Portfolio – Coursework, Pass/Fail (addresses learning outcomes 1)


• Professional Placement Year Portfolio – Individual project, 100% (addresses learning outcome 1,2,3,4,5)

The formative assessment for this module consists of:

• Oral formative feedback in semester 1 of year 1 students through workshops they participate in, that are focused on identifying and developing their employability skills and the documentations used for engaging independently with employers to secure a professional work placement


• Oral one-to-one and written formative feedback in semester 2 of year 1, for an Employability Portfolio, this portfolio demonstrates active engagement and an attempt to secure employment. This is a PASS/FAIL element of assessment.

Module aims

• Encourage the identification of knowledge from their curriculum and translate it into employability skills for a graduate-level job role in areas relevant to their programme of study
• Support students with identifying a range of key skills, and develop an aptitude that is resourceful, resilient and enterprising in outlook which can contribute to both personal and professional development
• Explore new skills appropriate to an industry and/or area of employment with significant relevance to their programme of study and/or career

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• Develop employability communication skills, resourcefulness, resilient and an enterprising outlook


• Enable students to participate in organised workshops dedicated to the development of personal and professional skills during the first year of the programme


• Encourage active development of a career plan during the professional placement year, through experiential learning and undertaking a work-based project.

To achieve the above during the placement year, there will be support through mentoring, coaching, review and assessment played by both the workplace supervisor and the academic supervisor which focuses on ensuring that students achieve the learning outcomes for the module, that relates to personal, professional, and academic development of the student.

The academic supervisor provides guidance for the student and facilitates critical self- reflection by offering regular mentoring sessions. If students work on placements at remote locations, this support is provided via phone, email, or teleconference.

The formative feedback on the student’s performance provided by their workplace supervisor and academic supervisor is another key aspect of the experiential learning process for the placement student.

Overall, the learning and teaching methods include:

• Workshops are organised throughout Semester 1 to guide and encourage the development of students' professional and employability skills


• Self-directed learning: students engage with learning materials and undertaking desk-research required for classroom participation and assessment.


• Active learning includes engaging in classroom and practical exercises, video and case analyses, and participation in career events and fairs.


• Immersion in practice: students learn in an experiential manner by applying the knowledge and skills from the programme to their work during their professional placement.


• Supervisory sessions to support students in their project work through systematic review of progress, discussion, and formative feedback from an academic tutor. These may be run face-to-face or online (synchronously).

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MANM486

Other information

The year-long module provides students with the opportunity to apply key employability skills, frameworks, techniques and tools from compulsory and optional modules in their programme of study. These skills will be developed and refined through project-based work experience. Before the placement year, the module also helps develop a student’s ability to be resourceful, resilient and confident in responding effectively to potential job opportunities, interview challenges and setbacks, whilst remaining enterprising in their outlook - a key transferable skill sought by employers.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.