A presentation from the STEM Annual Conference 2014.
An industrial placement or ‘sandwich’ year offers students the opportunity to spend 12 months at an organization where they undertake work that is relevant to their degree. Students who participate in such placements are often at an advantage over their peers in terms of employability skills improved degree results and having a greater breadth to their University experience. However despite these significant benefits participation rates in the scheme for Chemistry students at the University of Leicester are relatively low (approximately 25%). Qualitative evidence suggests that the reasons for this low participation are two-fold; 1st year students do not appreciate the relevance of placements to their degree and future employability whilst 2nd year students can struggle with the selection processes employed by external organizations. This presentation will discuss a project to develop a peer mentoring scheme specifically for industrial placements designed to address these issues. Students currently on or recently returned from placements mentor 1st and 2nd year students through a series of multimedia learning resources electronic discussion forums and face to face meetings. The initial impact of the project will be discussed in terms of both the effect on the participation rates for these programmes amongst the mentee group as well as the effect on the continuing professional development of the mentors.
