Sandwich placements

A sandwich placement is a work placement, which lasts for 12 months. It is usually taken between a student’s 2^nd and 3^rd years. Students work on a full-time basis and get paid like any other regular employee. It can also be known as “industrial placement”, a “year in industry or an “internship”.

Edge Hill students on courses within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences are able to undertake a sandwich year. 

Why do a sandwich placement?

There are many benefits of undertaking a sandwich placement. These include:

• Having a complete year’s work experience helps you stand out to potential employers in your job applications.
• You will develop specific work-related and general skills such as time management, business awareness, communication and confidence and many more.
• It will help you in your final year at university by enabling you to relate elements of your modules to real-life situations in the workplace.
• You will get experience in applying for jobs –  applications, interview skills, assessment centres and more.
• You may also be offered a job when you have completed your degree – many employers like to ‘try before they buy’ by recruiting potential employees via a sandwich placement scheme. 

Securing a sandwich placement

Many companies start recruiting for placement candidates from September throught the academic year, so do your research early. For more information use the Work-Integrated Learning: Securing a Sandwich Placement  pathway.

If you study a subject within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, you should speak to your subject representative about the support they can provide you. You can book an appointment with Careers to discuss finding a placement and get help with preparing your application or for an interview.

If you have already secured a sandwich placement, you must register your placement and have it validated by Careers and your Department. If you are taking part in a sandwich placement, please register your placement for approval using the Sandwich Placements 2025 – 2026: Register Sandwich Placement scheme.

Placement Bursary

Placement Bursary is paid to eligible UK or EU students who are undertaking a Sandwich Year.

Award amounts

The award amounts for bursary payments are dependent on household income and placement location.

For household incomes of £25,000 a year and above, the award amounts for academic year 2025/26 are:

For household incomes below £25,000 a year, the award amounts for academic year 2025/6 are:

Please note, where an eligible student lives outside the UK and undertakes a placement in their home country, the bursary will be calculated using the UK placement location rate.

Household income is checked against data held in SLC HEBBS, normally against 2025/26 data, however if this information is not available it will be checked against 2024/25 data. Where a student has no declared income, please note that the bursary will be paid at the lower rate.

If you are undertaking a full year on placement in two different locations the award will be calculated based on the location for each half year.

Payment arrangements

There is no application process to access this bursary. Your eligibility will be automatically assessed. Payments will be made in November 2025. This will usually be via BACS.