University of Hull:

Microplacements: connecting physics students to regional employers through curriculum development

The WRIPA-PLUS project, implemented across five universities within the Yorkshire, Humberside and East Midlands economic region, embedded employability within their physics curriculum in order to connect students and graduates with technologically strategic local SMEs.

Within the Yorkshire, Humberside and East Midlands economic region sits the White Rose Industrial Physics Academy (WRIPA). WRIPA is a collaboration between business and the university physics departments of Hull, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield and York. Since its inception, WRIPA has supported several hundred physics students to secure graduate-level technical work.

As part of the OfS’s Improving outcomes for local graduates Challenge Competition, the aim for the project was to connect physics students to local employers, in order to increase the proportion of those graduates staying in the region finding graduate-level employment.

The technical versatility and breadth of skills of physicists are crucial to driving innovation and growth in strategically important industries in the Yorkshire, Humberside and East Midlands region. While a large proportion of high value and technical employment in the region is through small and medium enterprises (SMEs), there are significant challenges in connecting physics students to highly skilled regional employment. These challenges include:

• The tendency of some physics students to not look outside of academia when looking for a career
• Physics students disproportionately engaging with large companies via institutional recruitment fairs, without being aware of the opportunities offered by SMEs
• Physics students connecting poorly with the universities’ central careers services.

In addition, while a high proportion of graduates stay in the region, the graduate outcomes for these students was significantly lower than those choosing to leave.

To address these issues, the project intended to test a range of inclusive mechanisms to connect physics students with technologically strategic local SMEs, and ultimately to increase the number of physics graduates in graduate-level employment. One approach is through physics curriculum development and the creation of work placement modules – this case study will focus on the ‘Physics into Work’ module at University of Leeds.

The WRIPA-PLUS project has enabled the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds to create the ‘Physics into Work’ module. This 15 credit module provides students with the opportunity to gain 30 hours of work experience in a technical sector. This approach is particularly helpful to those physics students who do not have any existing work experience or are looking for a ‘stepping stone’ into a particular sector. As part of the module students create a CV and cover letter and make speculative job applications to secure a placement. Additionally, the University of Leeds team also signposted work opportunities identified through their employer networks and directly contact businesses to create suitable micro placement opportunities for the students. The micro placement can be structured flexibly i.e., condensed in one or two weeks, or spread across several weeks, to suit the host organisation.

In 2021, the first time the module was run, eleven undergraduate physics students undertook micro-placements with eight regional businesses. The interns worked on projects including data analysis of satellite images, patent law and web development.

The Physics into Work placements demonstrated a huge return to both the business and student. In particular, the microplacements provide the businesses involved with support for initiatives that might otherwise have been put on hold but are instead able to run alongside everyday projects – in turn, helping to drive the business forward.

Here is what one business leader said about the programme:

‘It’s been a really positive experience for us, it’s something that we definitely want to do again because we’ve seen the benefits it can bring to our business. We also recognise that it’s really important for businesses to offer experiences like this so that students are prepared for the workplace, it’s been mutually beneficial.’

The success of the programme has led to a number of businesses agreeing to repeat the placements beyond the initial engagement. Across the project, the placements have resulted in longer term sustained engagement with regional businesses.

The Physics into Work microplacements are highly beneficial to both students and the employers involved. This accessible approach allows a greater number of students to engage with regional work-based learning and work-orientated activities. It provides a broader range of channels for students to connect with employers. The placements act as a stepping stone and have shown to lead onto further work experience opportunities.

One Leeds physics student gave the following feedback:

‘I think the internship will help me in the future as it shows a willingness to learn and step outside of education. It’s given me the opportunity to build a larger skill set and improve and expand my existing skills. It’s given me an appreciation for corporate time management and allowed me to build professional relationships for references and further contacts, which may be more specific to the field that I want to go into.’

For industry partners, particularly SMEs, the microplacements allow businesses to input into designing a learning experience, which is meaningful and ultimately more useful to the business.

To further support work based learning opportunities, including microplacements, the WRIPA-PLUS project has also created a new suite of digital career tools. These tools provide students with information about work experience opportunities, physics career pathways and job roles. Additionally, these digital tools enable students to connect with physics employers and early career alumni and introduces students to a diverse range of role models that help break down misconceived stereotypes of physics-related jobs.

The project engaged with 956 businesses and supported 176 students to participate in some form of work placement.

Ultimately, the WRIPA project facilitates the evolution of the physics degree, as it places a greater emphasis on skills and employability and supports student pathways into future careers.