Business Engagement
Queen’s School of Biological Science operate one of the largest and most successful Work Placement programmes in a UK or Irish University. The School model is recognised as an example of good practice due partly to the embedded nature of the work placements within the curriculum and reflective learning components that our students undertake.
The success of our work placement programmes depends on establishing strong external partnerships with host organisations, both locally, nationally and globally. Our employer relationships are key to supporting our students to develop vital employability skills to ensure they are career ready.
You can support and connect with our students in various ways:
- Hosting a year long or short term work placement / internship
- Developing remote projects for students to support as part of their research project modules
- Recruiting our Graduates
- Guest speaking at an appropriate event
- Attending our central Queen’s University Recruitment Fairs
- Supporting School employability initiatives such as graduate Mock Interviews or hosting us on our Bioscience – Study Tour
Partnership is central to our ethos and we work closely with our colleagues at Queen’s Institute for Global Food Security who routinely partner with industry for a solutions-led approach to many of the key research challenges facing the global food supply chain. IGFS collaborate on a number of external projects with education and research institutes, government bodies, the agri-food industry - from SMEs to multinational retailers and NGO’s - in an effort to marry world-leading research with real-world application.
Placements and Internships
The School recognises the importance of our students engaging with business and wider society to gain relevant experience, develop commercial awareness, skills and knowledge to support their early career development.
All students have the option to add a placement onto their degree programme and this is viewed as being one of the most important aspects of the degree, enabling the opportunity to experience jobs in preparation for graduation. Placements bring many benefits for students in developing skills, putting theory into practice and preparing for future careers. There are also many benefits to be gained by hosting a student and we are engaged in developing talent to support industry and partner organisations.
-
Benefits to Employers
- Cost effective extra resource with relevant knowledge and skills
- New ideas and fresh perspectives in the workplace
- A means of training and evaluating placement students for potential graduate opportunities
- Develop links with Queen’s University Belfast, can lead to additional partnerships
- Students bring new skills and knowledge of modern practices and technologies
- Provide existing staff the opportunity to develop supervisory skills through mentoring a student on placement
- Placement Recruitment Timeline
- October to March – advertise and promote opportunities. It is also possible to come on campus to meet students (timetable permitting)
- December to Easter – a busy time for placement interviews. Interviews can be accommodated on site
- May to August – UG and PG students typically commence placement
Where Do Our Graduates Go?
Alumni Profiles
Graduate Recruitment
Queen's University is renowned for our industry-leading student and graduate talent. We are committed to connecting employers to their future workforce and offer a range of services to meet your needs. 96% of our undergraduates are in employment or further study 6 months after graduation (HESA Destinations of Leavers survey 2016/17).
Whether you would like to promote your vacancies and opportunities, raise student awareness of your organisation or help shape future skills development in potential employees, our experienced team can support your tailored engagement strategy.
We are open to engaging with organisations in various ways to inform our students of career options and opportunities available to them. We regularly hold career information sessions (life sciences, agri-food, environmental), an annual careers fair (Environmental Conservation) a yearly Bioscience - Employer tour of life science organisations throughout the UK and ROI. If you would like to get involved with any of these activities or have a request for connecting we would love to hear from you. You can email Dionne or complete the form below:
- Dionne Alexander – d.alexander@qub.ac.uk
Request to Engage with Careers and Placement Team form
Employer Engagement Team
QUB Employer Gateway
Explore KTP opportunities
QUB KTP Team
22/23 Employer Newsletter
Careers and Placement 22/23 Employer Newsletter
Please see a link below to the School of Biological Sciences – Employer Newsletter for 2022/23. Included is a review of successes from 2021/22, opportunities to connect and engage with the careers and placement team and students for the upcoming 2022/23 year. We look forward to engaging with you and wish to thank you for continued support of the School programmes and students.
Careers and Placement 22/23 Employer Newsletter