If you are participating in a structured internship programme, industry placement or consultancy project run by King’s (credit-bearing), you will be expected to complete the King’s Host Agreement in order to formalise your involvement. Failure to complete this may mean you are unable to participate in the programme.
We know that many other students will take part in extracurricular internships – and sometimes your host employer will request documentation from King’s to confirm your student status (or request that your university agrees to certain terms) in order for you to undertake the opportunity.
- If your employer wishes to simply confirm your student status, you can download your Confirmation of Study Letter and share this with them.
- You can download a Record of Agreed Results (ROAR) if your employer is requesting confirmation of your current modular results before you have completed your programme.
- If you have already completed your programme, your employer may use your HEAR and the Higher Education Degree Datacheck (HEDD) to confirm your qualification at King's online.
If your employer requires additional documentation, the King’s Host Agreement is available for you to share with them.
Please be advised that King’s is unable to sign employers’ own documentation or that provided by external organisations. These documents will be rejected. Unfortunately, if your employer requires documentation from King’s – but is unable to sign our King’s Host Agreement, you may be unable to undertake this opportunity.
What is the King’s Host Agreement?
This tripartite documentation is facilitated by King’s Careers & Employability but may require you to seek involvement from your personal tutor or academic department as it requires that you, your employer and King’s all complete the document in order for us to formally approve.
The King’s Host Agreement satisfies our legal and regulatory requirements alongside providing a level of support to you whilst on your opportunity. Our expectations upon employers are outlined in the document to ensure your health and safety, compliance with policies and insurance regulations, guarantee of fair remuneration where legally required. It also outlines support with termination, complaints, misconduct and appeals.
It has been created in line with guidance from the Universities Safety & Health Association (USHA) and ASET, the Work-based Learning Association. The Agreement is approved for use by King’s legal and governance teams and is regularly reviewed to ensure compliance with all UK legislation and is sufficiently covered by European law.
What the King’s Host Agreement is not?
The Agreement is not a contract of employment and King’s maintains no contractual involvement in setting aspects such as pay, working hours, location, termination & notice periods other than ensuring our base minimum expectations are met.
It is not to be used in lieu of a contract of employment, which you may sign separately, directly with your host employer.
Who can use it?
You are eligible to use the King's Host Agreement if you are:
- A currently registered student at King's College London, whose formal student status is retained until after the end of the relevant opportunity.
- Enrolled in a programme of at least six months in length (either full-time or part-time)
Prospective students and offer holders are not eligible to use the King's Host Agreement, neither are alumni of the institution who completed their course more than two years (24 months) ago.
If the bulk of your internship takes place after you formally complete your studies at King’s please follow the guidance below for the Graduate Host Agreement.
You can check your formal course dates via your Confirmation of Study letter, to ascertain how much of your opportunity might be beyond your course completion.
Your registered student status is not connected to your graduation ceremony but to the end of your programme of studies. Therefore, you cannot delay your graduation to extend your student status.
Important to know: by completing the King’s Host Agreement, we expect you to act professionally, representing both yourself and King’s College London appropriately. Therefore, please consider the following best practices:
- Be courteous and prompt when responding to communications from employers
- Consider any offers you receive fully, asking any questions relating to the role, such as timings, salary (if appropriate), expectations, training, etc., prior to agreeing and signing a contract
- Once you have secured an opportunity and started a King’s Host Agreement, do not renege on your acceptance and find a different opportunity
- The way you choose to behave may impact the employer’s likelihood to work with you in future years, so behave in a way you would like to be remembered for
Important Information
An opportunity may only be undertaken during semester dates if part-time and up to 20 hours per week. Agreements received which do not meet this will be automatically rejected.
It is the responsibility of students to undertake their own due diligence in advance of applying for an opportunity.
- You should explicitly ask your employer when applying for, or are offered a role, whether they expect King’s to complete any documentation for you to undertake the role
- You should clarify whether the role will be available to you should you cease to be a student for all or part of the opportunity
- You should clarify whether your employer requires you to undertake the opportunity for credit related to your course, or as part of a course of study. If it is not possible to undertake an opportunity as part of your programme, you will be unable to pursue the opportunity. King’s is unable to confirm that an opportunity will form a part of a students’ programme of study or is credit-bearing if this is not the case, and you are undertaking this as an extracurricular activity
Key things to know about the Host Agreement
- An opportunity may only be undertaken by current students during semesters if it’s part-time and up to 20 hours per week. Agreements sent to King’s Careers & Employability or your academic department which don’t meet this will be automatically rejected.
- It is your responsibility to undertake your own due diligence in advance of applying for an opportunity.
- You should explicitly ask your employer when applying for, or are offered a role, whether they expect King’s to complete any documentation so you can undertake the role.
- You should clarify whether the role will be available to you should you cease to be a student for all or part of the opportunity.
- You should clarify whether you're hoping to undertake the opportunity for credit as part of your course, or simply as an extra-curricular endeavour. If it is a contractual requirement of your employer to undertake the opportunity for credit related to your course, or as part of a course of study, but this is not possible on your programme, you will be unable to pursue the opportunity.
- Your employer must possess employers' liability insurance (of at least £5m) and confirm this cover can be provided to you throughout the duration of your opportunity. This is a legal requirement in the UK and where students are undertaking opportunities overseas, King's expects an equivalence or parallel legal equivalent to be provided to cover for possible incident whilst undertaking the opportunity, as part of our duty of care.
- Your employer should be aware of our own Agreement and that this is the only documentation we are able to sign, so you are not disappointed by not then being able to fulfil the opportunity.
- It is not the responsibility of the university to engage directly with your host employer, neither can King’s be held responsible for an employer not being able to fulfil our expectations and obligations, or an opportunity which may be voided if your employer cannot accept the King’s Host Agreement.
Important to know:
- King’s is unable to sign employers’ own documentation or documentations provided by external organisations. These documents will be rejected.
- Unfortunately, if your employer requires documentation from King’s – but is unable to sign our King’s Host Agreement, you may be unable to undertake this opportunity.
- Minor amendments may on occasion be made to specific clauses (e.g. a change in a clause from 14 days’ notice to 7 days’ notice) in the Agreement at the sole discretion of the relevant King’s authority or the Associate Director (Employer Engagement & Work-based Learning).
- Changes cannot be made to insurance or health & safety clauses and are not guaranteed to be made.
- King’s is unable to confirm that an opportunity will form a part of your programme of study or is credit-bearing, if this is not the case.
Taking up opportunities overseas
The details outlined above are particularly important if you are considering an internship in a country (e.g. France, Belgium, Italy, Spain) where they commonly use an agreement called a ‘Convention De Stage’/’Acuerdo De Practicas’/’Convenio De Colaboracion’.
- These agreements are contractually binding and required because their employment legislation means that an intern may not legally treated as a full ‘employee’.
- This means your employer is not required to undertake certain checks, may not be required to pay you, or have insurance or social security in place should something go wrong.
- King’s cannot sign these Agreements supplied by your employer.
You should also check the latest King’s guidance on support for international mobility, and whether travel to that country may not be permitted by the institution at that time (e.g. in event of a pandemic, natural disaster or travel advisory warning). You may be required to also complete further risk assessment documentation for us to confirm an opportunity.
How do I obtain the King’s Host Agreement?
The King's Host Agreement is a digital form completed through DocuSign, a safe and secure platform that uses a qualified electronic signature that is unique to you.
There is a French King’s Host Agreement – you can access this via a form. Please note we require all answers in this document to be in English. You should contact your Host Organisation ahead of time to let them know they must respond in English.
You do not need to register to use DocuSign. You will sign it first, then it will be automatically sent to your employer and finally to the relevant King's authority. Please refer to the FAQs section in this article to understand how the DocuSign process works.
For King’s Business School students ONLY – if you are undertaking an opportunity that is NOT part of your course, please follow this link to complete your King’s Host Agreement.
If you are undertaking a Year In Industry and are from KBS (or NMES) – you will receive a different link from the Global Placements team.
To have a King’s Host Agreement approved, please be advised that:
- You will need to provide your full name and King's email address (firstname.lastname@kcl.ac.uk) when setting up the contact details on DocuSign.
- You will need to provide the correct contact name and email address of the employer in the 'Request a King's Host Agreement' form. The agreement cannot be signed without this information. Please ensure the email address is correct, as DocuSign will automatically send them the agreement after you have signed.
- Please refer to the FAQs section in this article to understand how the DocuSign process works.
Important to know: It is your responsibility to ensure all parties sign the King’s Host Agreement in advance of your opportunity commencing. King’s representatives are not responsible for chasing your Host or the King’s Authority to sign the document.
You must initiate the Agreement at least 21 days prior to the start of your opportunity to ensure that all signatories have the opportunity to review the relevant sections. Failure to do so may jeopardise the chances of receiving the necessary documentation and it cannot be guaranteed that the Agreement will be confirmed in time.
To make full use of the terms and conditions in the Agreement, you must be registered as a student for the entire duration of the opportunity.
You can check your formal course dates via your Confirmation of Study letter, to make sure that the opportunity starts and ends within your official course dates.
Who signs on behalf of King’s?
If you’re undertaking one of our own programmes or an industry placement (The Faculty of Natural, Mathematical and Engineering Sciences or King’s Business School) your Agreement will be automatically directed to the relevant member of staff responsible for that delivery.
Students on the Accredited Internships Programme will have that document sign by their Internship Module Academic convener.
For all other students, King's considers the Head of Department, or when they are unavailable, the Deputy Head or Personal Tutor, as the designated King's authority that reviews and signs the agreement for internships or placements. For KBS students, the KBS Work-Related Learning team will sign these agreements.
PhD students and research staff should liaise with their tutor in the Centre for Doctoral Studies.
The King's authority will review the agreement and check that the opportunity meets the essential criteria of quality and health and safety, and will use their professional judgement to approve or reject agreements based on the information provided.
We have Guidance and Advice for Academic and Professional Services staff (PDF, Intranet) to support them in signing the Agreement, which you may wish to share.
The King’s Host Agreement terminates automatically when you cease to be enrolled as a student of King’s College London, as per paragraph 11.1 of the terms and conditions.
This means that King’s will not be able to support you in holding your employer accountable for your health and safety, compliance with policies and regulations, guarantee of minimum wage, support with termination, complaints, misconduct or appeals after your ‘course completion’ date has passed.
If you are a graduate, you are not entitled to the terms and conditions of the King’s Host Agreement as the formal relationship with King’s College London has ended before the start of the internship or placement.
We have a condensed Graduate Host Agreement which may be used by students who completed their course of study within the last two years.
To access this Agreement, you will need to be registered as an alumni with King's CareerConnect and follow this Pathway.
We have a French version of the Graduate Host Agreement you can use if you are undertaking this opportunity in France. You can access it via this Pathway, making sure you are registered as an alumni with King’s CareerConnect.
This Agreement will be signed on behalf of the university by King’s Careers & Employability, who will receive the form automatically to approve.
Important to know: You will need to obtain any relevant health and liability insurance prior to the opportunity. You will not be insured against the risk of sickness and maternity, disability, and accidents at work by King’s and may not be by your host organisation, so please check with them directly. King’s College London shall not be liable for any accident involving the graduate or costs arising from this or provide any form of insurance. Both the organisation and the graduate shall obtain liability insurance with an insurance provider of their choice. King’s College London shall not be liable for any actions, errors, or omissions of the graduate.
Where can I get advice related to my visa?
Students holding a Student Visa must ensure they check their status means they are able to undertake an opportunity and should check with the Visa & International Student Advice Team for any support.
King’s is unable to provide support regarding visas in other countries to enable you to work. You will need to seek independent advice from that country’s Embassy or Consulate.
FAQs
How does the DocuSign process work?
- Complete all your details, sign, and click “Finish”. Once you click on “Finish”, the Agreement will automatically be forwarded to the Host Organisation
- Once they complete everything, sign and click “Finish”, it will be forwarded to your Faculty or relevant King’s department for final review and signature
- You will not receive a notification once you have completed your sections. You will only be notified once all 3 parties have signed. Please do not initiate the King’s Host Agreement several times as this will confuse your Host Organisation
Who should I speak to if my agreement is taking too long to be approved?
- Have you contacted your Host Organisation to ensure they have followed the process and clicked “Finish”?
- If they have: have you reached out to your academic department (for the regular King’s Host Agreement), or Internships@kcl.ac.uk for the Graduate Agreement, to check whether they have received it?
- If your opportunity is extracurricular, or part of an Accredited Internship Module, and your department says they have not received anything, please inform Internships@kcl.ac.uk so they can track your agreement. You will then have to chase this person or department yourself.
- If you are undertaking a Year in Industry, please contact Global-Placements@kcl.ac.uk for support.
I still have questions, who can I speak to?
If your question has not been answered by this article, you can email internships@kcl.ac.uk who will endeavour to support you or direct you to the correct information or authority. If you are undertaking a Year in Industry, please contact Global-Placements@kcl.ac.uk for support.