Work placements continue to shine in the face of COVID-19

Employers are continuing to benefit from successful work placements with University of Brighton students, despite the huge disruption caused by COVID-19.

Over 300 employers across the region have approached the university regarding placements for students studying at its highly-regarded Brighton Business School (BBS) – ranked in the UK’s Top 5 for the impact of its research. In spite of the chaos brought to many areas of business and the economy, this is an increase compared to previous years.

Case study

Brighton-based digital marketing and creative agency Arke (arkeagency.com) has been employing BBS student Henry Boys on a placement since July 2020. Henry has been working remotely in a sales and marketing executive role, helping create email and social media campaigns, alongside project planning and managing leads.

Operations Manager and placement supervisor at the company Jennifer Applin said: “We are delighted with Henry’s progress and have been stunned by his ability to take on a role and run with it while working remotely for almost the entire time. In fact, at one point our marketing manager was on holiday for a week and we joked that Henry was in charge – but actually, we realized after a few days that he was”.

Arke’s founders, Ben Billing and Steph Noble, are both graduates of University of Brighton and have themselves benefited from undertaking a placement year as part of their degree. Ben said: “Steph and I both valued our time on placement hugely. Offering placements to students is an important part of our identity as a company, and we do this each year. So it was important to us to make sure Henry’s placement happened”.

Henry is enthusiastic about the benefits of his placement so far. “My managers have encouraged me to be hands-on – I’ve experienced every aspect of the business, and every month I’ve learned a new skill, or taken a skill to the next level. I’m loving it!”.

Other local employers of placement students include major government institutions like The Pensions Regulator (which has its headquarters in Brighton) and Crunch Accounting. Both are regular employers of placement students from the University of Brighton – who are still looking for more employer’s keen to offer placements across all sectors to students during the continued COVID-related disruption.