Oxford University’s engineering and economics departments have combined with the Saïd Business School to offer a four-year Masters in Engineering (or Materials), Economics and Management. We attract some of the brightest applicants from around the world for this degree.
A 24-week period of industrial placement forms an integral part of the programme. The projects that students complete need to be discrete pieces of work of value to the sponsor, even if they form part of a larger project currently underway. A student could, for example, develop logistics models, project appraisal systems or accounting procedures.
What is an industrial placement?
The industrial placement is not an internship. It does, however, involve working in real organisations and examining significant managerial and operational challenges that the organisation faces. More importantly, the placement is an opportunity to apply and develop academic concepts and theories in a real world setting. Every student on an industrial placement project has an academic supervisor as well as an workplace supervisor. The end result of the placement is a project report which explores these managerial issues within an academic framework.
Students work for an impressive array of organisations which offer placements. Every effort is made to place students in an industrial environment which will suit their interests and academic strengths.
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How does it work?
Fourth-Year Engineering (Materials) Economics and Management students as a business resource
The four-year course in Engineering (Materials), Economics and Management (EMEM) at the University of Oxford attracts some of the brightest applicants from around the world.
E(M)EM students spend two-thirds of their time studying engineering. During Year 1, they take courses in engineering. During Year 2 and Year 3, they take courses in introductory micro- and macroeconomics, the organisation of production, and an introduction to management. During Year 4, their final year, students are expected to apply the knowledge they have already acquired in their first three years by undertaking a business assignment in the form of a project placement in industry for 24 weeks.
During the project placement, a student is employed by an organisation to undertake a specific project offered by the company for six months, starting early in July. When the students return to the University at the beginning of January, they complete the theoretical part of their studies in management and economics and an advanced option paper in engineering. The Masters degree is awarded for the successful completion of all degree requirements, including the project.
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What constitutes a project?
A project should:
- Be an identifiable piece of work of value to the organisation and specific to the particular student, even if it takes place within the larger framework of a team project within the organisation
- Cover a broad range of work within the field of management; for example, an investigation of logistics models, human resource strategies, project appraisal systems, or accounting procedures.
What are the benefits to students?
Undertaking a project placement enables students to:
- Demonstrate their ability to apply the management skills that they have been learning during their third year
- Draw on the technical knowledge and skills from their economics and engineering/materials science training
- Fully explore a sector of industry that they may consider for their future career.
Through undertaking the project placement, the student will learn how to:
- Manage a project and make decisions
- Understand business processes
- Research relevant information
- Produce a deliverable specified by the company within a defined time-scale
- Write a coherent and logical report with well-thought-out recommendations for implementation.
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What can organisations expect?
Your organisation can expect the student to:
- Only apply for a project placement if he or she has a genuine desire to undertake a project within your firm and/or the industrial sector in which you operate
- Discuss with you his or her course requirements during the interview for the project
- Undertake to fulfil his or her responsibilities as an employee of the company during the project period
- Carry out the project to the specification agreed with the company/organisation and commit to working through the assigned mentor within the organisation and with the University supervisor appointed by the Projects Office
- Produce a final report and other feedback to his or her line manager as required and agreed prior to the project. This report will be derived from the written work that the student presents to the examiners for the student’s degree.
What are the benefits to the organisation?
Your organisation can benefit from hosting a student on a project placement because an E(M)EM student:
- Has developed strong analytical abilities, has a deep understanding of the scientific principles underpinning engineering, and has learned the habit of independent thought
- Provides an extra resource to carry out a specific project you require undertaking
- Can thoroughly research your project and can draw on the resources of the management programme at Oxford
- Your organisation can also use a project as an opportunity to assess potential new recruits.
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What are the responsibilities of the organisation?
Define the project
Your organisation will be asked to submit an outline project brief to the Saïd Business School Projects Office on a pro-forma provided by the Projects Office. Your outline project brief should define your project in enough detail so that the student and the School can confirm that it fulfils the academic and practical objectives described above. Some organisations may wish to develop the initial project brief jointly with the student and with advice from the Projects Office. Organisations may review a list of projects undertaken in previous years, although this is subject to restrictions of confidentiality clauses and embargoes.
Ideally, your organisation should submit this project brief before the student signs an employment contract with you. However, the University does recognise that it is often difficult for an organisation to define the full nature of the project as much as 4-5 months before the project starts, especially in fast moving industry sectors. In this case, you may provide an outline of intent for the nature of the project.
Mentor the student
Your organisation is asked to name one person who will supervise the student during the project, and to identify a named individual who will be the point of contact between the School and your organisation.
Provide feedback on the student’s performance
Your organisation must complete a short document assessing the student’s performance on the project. This assessment must be returned to the Projects Office within three weeks after the student completes the project, because the assessment will be attached to the student’s report to the examiners.
Employment
The student becomes a full-time employee of your organisation for a defined 24-week period of time during the project period. We suggest that you remunerate the student in line with industry practice for student internships. You will not be charged by the School for administration or for entering into this scheme.
Allow the student sufficient time to complete the academic requirements of the projects
You should budget in time for the student to return to Oxford approximately one day a month for tutorial contact with his or her supervisor. In addition, students are expected to attend two half-day project workshops midway through the project period, which provide support and additional training.
The student will be expected to write up his or her work as he or she progresses. The student will need access to company data and personnel to undertake the project. Your organisation is asked to make available to the student all necessary background material and company records that are required for the student to undertake the project.
Provide a suitable induction programme when the student joins the organisation
Your organisation should make sure that the student, as with any other employee, attends a standard induction programme to the company.
Provide a safe and healthy working environment
Whilst on the project placement, you should make sure that the student is subject to the same health and safety measures that would ordinarily be in place for staff who are employed within the organisation and who carry out the same or similar types of work either in the company premises or in the field.
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What support is provided?
The Projects Office will:
- Liaise with the company contact to suggest students with the skills required by the company or which are needed for the project
- Make sure that the project outline is acceptable to both the company and the student, and meets the standards required by the University’s examiners
- Provide the student with a supervisor from the School’s teaching staff who will discuss the project with the student and company mentor, and provide support and guidance during the course of the project
- Support the partnership by providing a single point of contact between the student, teaching staff and the company throughout the project period
- Provide documentation for the administrative process as required.
How can my organisation get involved?
Projects may be initiated in three different ways. Your organisation can initiate a specific project placement:
- Your organisation expresses an interest in partnering the School by agreeing to submit a project brief
- After receipt of the project brief, the Projects Office will confirm to the organisation that the brief conforms to the requirements of the E(M)EM course
- The School will send the organisation a number of CVs of selected E(M)EM students whom they have identified as suitable given the skills set requested by the company for the project
- The organisation will interview the students and select its preferred candidate
- The organisation will make an offer to the student to undertake the project. Once this offer has been made, employment agreements can be signed and the organisation will be informed of the name of the academic supervisor. The Projects Office is available to co-ordinate any further specific arrangements.
Or, your organisation can initiate a generic project placement:
- Your organisation requests/is sent CVs of possible students for project placements/internships
- Your organisation makes an offer to a student for a six-month internship and an employment contract
- The student will ask the Projects Office to contact the Company to request a project brief form to be completed
- Once agreement has been reached on the project’s suitability, the student is given the go-ahead to sign the contract of employment.
Also, a project placement can be initiated externally:
A student or the Projects Office can proactively approach a company to discuss the possibility of one or more project placements. In this situation there is flexibility in the system to allow negotiations to take place depending upon the internal structure of the organisation.
What is the timeframe?
In the final term of year three, students are particularly busy, not only with normal coursework but also with the added demands of revising for and sitting exams. For this reason it is hoped that most activities associated with placement identification will have been completed by the end of April. By the end of June all administrative agreements will have been finalised in readiness for the student to formally start the project early in July.
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