INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

The Year in Industry initiative organises relevant work placements for young people to spend a year out before or during their university degree.

You will receive a salary, as well as gaining professional skills and an understanding of how your academic studies translate to the workplace. Many of our departments encourage participation in the scheme and are happy to defer your admission for a year while you participate.

Integral to your learning is the development of skills which will serve you well during your degree and beyond graduation. These include research skills (such as sourcing, sifting and analysing information), communication skills, collaborating with others on projects, time management, motivational and leadership skills as well as social and cultural awareness.

We also offer formal training in IT and Writing in Academic Contexts, plus the opportunity to learn a language. As well as traditional ways of learning, we provide you with a wide range of teaching resources and the tools to undertake independent study.

UCL is committed to improving teaching by supporting innovation and excellence. Every year, the best staff are recognised with Provost’s Teaching Awards, and we invest in technologies which promote interactive and engaging classroom learning using voting, group activities and the latest multimedia facilities to stimulate discussion and debate.

Our online learning environment enables you to access class materials, communicate with fellow students and tutors, review your lectures, access study resources and check your work for potential plagiarism.

UCL Advances, our centre for entrepreneurship, is unique in the UK Higher Education sector and offers you:

• training that covers all aspects of how to start your own business or to help prepare you to enter the job market
• a two-week summer programme of workshops teaching business skills
• the opportunity to gain direct experience of small business consultancy by joining a student-led short-term consultancy project
• the chance to spend eight weeks with a small to medium sized enterprise gaining a first-hand look into how to start and run a business in London
• The London Entrepreneurs’ Challenge, one of the largest business plan competitions in the country, with over 400 students participating each year
• three-day Enterprise Boot Camps, run each summer, to introduce participants to the fundamentals of the modern business world
• networking events

UCL's Department of Management Science and Innovation offers optional courses in innovation management that came be taken by any student.

Our dedicated Student Entrepreneurship website provides more comprehensive information about the funding and support on offer to UCL students, as well as case studies from employers and students.

Some UCL departments in the Faculties of Engineering Sciences, Life Sciences and Mathematical and Physical Sciences offer you undergraduate summer research placements.

These provide a great opportunity for you to discover how research is undertaken in universities and to make a real contribution to a research field. You could also learn more about a topic which could lead to exciting opportunities in your undergraduate research project or a PhD degree. During the placement you will join a research team working on a specific project in your department over the summer vacation. Bursaries are normally available.

Study Abroad is an exciting and rewarding opportunity; a unique experience which counts towards your degree programme and gives you the chance to learn life skills not taught in the lecture theatre. This opportunity extends beyond the 100 UCL degree programmes that include Study Abroad as an integral part of the curriculum.

UCL has over 260 international partners, including many of the world’s most prestigious universities. Our European links are mostly supported by the Erasmus programme.

Financial support is available and you will also be supported by a network of Departmental Study Abroad Tutors, Peer Advisers and the UCL Study Abroad Team. These will provide you with information and the knowledge of their first-hand experience, as well as academic support before, during and after your placement.

The UCL Centre for Languages & International Education provides linguistic support if you are not studying a language as part of your degree.