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Professional Liaison Unit

Professional Liaison Unit

The Professional Liaison Unit (PLU) runs the School of Informatics’ (SoI) undergraduate placement schemes, its postgraduate internship scheme, Personal Development programmes (for both undergraduates and postgraduates) and employer-led skills sessions and events. The purpose of these schemes and activities is to maximise the student experience by equipping SoI students with the tools to bridge the gap between education and employment.

Mission Statement

  To enhance and develop the quality of the education offered to students, and their ability to benefit from it, by creating and managing   opportunities for interactions between Informatics staff and students and industry/the professions.

How?

We do this by designing, implementing and managing appropriate work-based/industry focused direction and elements for SoI programmes, drawing on our relationships with employers and others. E.g. through;

  1. Identifying potential placements and internships from over 300 employers annually. (We maintain a large Contacts Management System, and we work our contacts.)
  2. Student placement schemes (one-year undergraduate, Professional Pathway, and postgraduate internships).
  3. Work-based student projects (e.g. Part 2 double work-based project module for PP students and PG internship projects), including the facilitation of knowledge transfer.
  4. Structured programmes that develop employability and career management skills for all SoI students i.e. Personal Development Planning (PDP).
  5. Informal and formal input to SoI course design, marketing and review (drawing on experience and by managing advisory panels).
  6. Formal input to course design and review across City by contributions to Course Approval Panels and Periodic Programme Reviews.
  7. Managing the accreditation of our courses by professional bodies, and periodic quality reviews.

We also engage with external bodies, and the academic community in work-based learning, to disseminate our models and results, explore best practice and identify opportunities for development and funding (e.g. contribution to the Developing the Future report, running a workshop at the 2008 ASET conference).

Ginny Williams
Director, Professional Liaison Unit
1 September 2008