Business Placements

Placement of Students

To participate in the Business Placement unit, students must be enrolled in the second or third year of study at the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics and have achieved at least a Credit average result. Students who do not have a Credit average result, may be eligible for placement if they are assessed to hold relevant skills and there is a relevant placement opportunity available.

Upon receipt of student applications (including a current CV) the Business Placement Coordinator assesses student suitability for the projects available. Offers of placement are at the discretion of host businesses. As the application process is competitive, there are no guarantees that all student applicants will obtain a placement, however we attempt to find an opportunity for a placement for all interested students.

The Business Placement can be undertaken as a one or two days per week option for a semester, depending on the project requirements and student study program. Alternative placement formats can also be negotiated to suit both the student and business.

Requirements of Placement Organisations

Organisations must be able to provide a suitable staff member to be the Placement Mentor for the student(s), provide guidance in the workplace and provide feedback to the student directly and to the Business Placement Coordinator. The organisation will also provide access to facilities, equipment, staff, and any information necessary to onboard and support the student to successfully complete the project.

A placement project is a series of workplace tasks that can be completed by a university student under the guidance of a Placement Mentor. The project or series of tasks should be scoped to allow the student to apply their university studies in an applied manner with suitable milestones and defined outcomes for the student to understand the work undertaken in the context of the organisation in the time available.

A small selection of past projects include:

• Finance and Accounting - Electronic budget packages research project. Return of investment for a social enterprise.
• Economics - Research, quantify the economic, social and cultural value of a funding incentive or community project.
• Corporate Governance - Re-development of the delegations register for Council.
• Human Resource Management - Research and develop strategies to increase senior management and governance diversity within an organisation. Industrial relations project.
• Marketing - Assist in the execution of a marketing strategy for a small business. Branding research project.

Here is some information we send to our business partners on what makes a good placement project:

1. Project description brief: defined to include challenging but achievable tasks by the student and/or responsibilities, milestones plus expectations of outcomes/outputs.
2. Authentic placement experience: to allow the successful candidate to understand the workplace context.
3. Supervision and mentorship arrangements are in place to maximise student experience, learning and authentic feedback. We will need the name, email and phone number of a mentor or supervisor in your organisation.
4. The student gains an understanding of their project/tasks in the context of the organisation, division and/or other projects.
5. The organisation has established induction/onboarding procedures to set the student/candidate up for success and student safety.
6. The project is linked to students’ area of study.

If you have any questions or want to book a time or discuss your project proposal, email Business.Placements@utas.edu.au or call +61 3 6324 3082.

Register a project (opens in a new window)

Thank you for your submission and we look forward to partnering with you for future internships and work-integrated learning projects.