Congratulations on completing a successful placement - and welcome back to King’s!
Lots of degree programmes at King's offer placements for students. For students on health programmes, clinical placements are compulsory and a vital part of their learning and practical experience. Students in other faculties also have the opportunity to study abroad or undertake an industry placement or another kind of placement to gain valuable professional experience.
Returning to study can sometimes be a challenge if you’ve been in a more structured work environment for a period, so it’s important to take some time to ease yourself back into university life.
To help, you will continue to receive support to reflect on your experiences and what you have achieved, how that knowledge can be applied to your curriculum as well as support for your transition back into your final year of life at university and beyond.
Here are some steps you can take to reintegrate back into King’s:
- Reconnect with your fellow students through departmental networking events or at the Global Placements Celebration for students in the faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences or the King's Business School each autumn.
- Meet with your personal tutor and let them know how your placement went, what knowledge, attributes, skills and experiences you gained and how they can support your future academic studies. As many of you will be returning into your final year of study, it would be worthwhile getting recommendations on how you should approach this and to discuss any dissertation requirements.
- Explore different King’s events and check out opportunities through King’s Edge and King’s Careers & Employability.
- Join student groups, undertake volunteering or get involved with KCLSU campaigns.
- Review support from King’s Sport & Wellness including gym classes and BeActive.
- Familiarise yourself with the Libraries & Collections provision to support your studies and King’s IT guides to ensure you remember how to access all your email, files and key communications.
Importantly, give yourself time to adjust and go through the motions of adaptation – everyone will return to King’s having been through different experiences and you may find you acclimatise back to your studies at different points to your friends.
Student Services Online can support with various questions about adjusting back to university life.
Applying New Skills
Whilst a placement allows you to take the academic knowledge from your studies and apply it to the workplace, it is also a great opportunity to take what you learned on placement into your final lectures and tutorials. In the final year, your placement experience can help to:
- Provide inspiration for an idea to explore in more detail in your final year project dissertation.
- Provide clarify on your individual attributes and what most interests you for your future.
- Apply transferable skills, such as being able to work in a team and the ability to solve complex problems, which are all valuable assets in both your academic and professional career.
- Contextualise your studies and give you motivation to succeed in your final year projects and examinations.
Ongoing Careers Support
King’s Careers & Employability seeks to enable and empower students, recent alumni, and researchers from all disciplines and walks of life, to gain the knowledge, skills, and experiences they need to effectively navigate their lives and careers after university and achieve lifelong success.
They can support with:
- Accessing digital careers education on KEATS.
- Using King's CareerConnect to search for opportunities, book appointments and events, subscribe to updates and enhance your skills through our online pathways.
- Exploring exclusive digital tools to support with interview technique, psychometric testing, assessment centres, virtual work simulations and much more.
You can also check out their Careers blog for case studies, news and articles to help you plan your career journey.
Students who undertook a placement via the Global Placements team for students in the faculty of Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences or the King's Business School can also refer back to information on the KEATS page for additional support and Services.
Share your Experiences
Students returning from their placement will have the opportunity to share their experience and support other students on their placement journey:
- Network with future placement students in your subject area cohort.
- Post on social media/write a blog about your placement experience.
- Speak at King's placement events.
- Facilitate links between your host employer and King's for the benefit of future students.