Placements

We are committed to providing our students with the skills needed to succeed within the competitive job market.

We aim to provide you with a variety of opportunities that allow you to practically apply the academic theory you have learned here, outside in the real world.

For Law, Politics and International Relations students

If you choose to study Law, Politics or International Relations you will have the opportunity to take a module in your third year which allows you to carry out a work placement at an organisation that plays a key role in Welsh governance. This placement aims to provide you with a theoretically grounded, yet practice-oriented introduction to devolved governance in Wales.

By participating in a series of lecture seminars delivered by leading practitioners and academic experts in the fields of Public Law and Politics, you will experience the workings of public administration in Wales at first hand. You will broaden your empirical knowledge and understanding of the legal and political dimensions of governance in Wales, develop highly valuable transferable skills that will be key to your employability and career development, and forge long-term professional relationships within relevant sectors.

For Politics and International Relations students

Students on all single honours Politics and International Relations degree programmes have the opportunity to apply for and transfer onto our Placement Year degree programme.

The placement year allows you to gain extended practical experience of a professional work environment during your degree. It will provide you with an opportunity to apply the knowledge gained during the first two years of study in a practical context. The placement year is designed to allow you to apply the critical thinking gained during your studies to a professional work place, enhancing your employability skills and experience.

This is a self-sourced and self-funded opportunity: you will source your own placements within a framework of overall support provided by the School.

For Law students

Law students have the opportunity to apply for a work placement which will be carried out in the third year of the LLB Law degree.

The full-time, salaried placements will be open to you via a competitive application process which aims to replicate the graduate recruitment processes you will encounter after leaving University.

During your placement, you will undertake legal practice as a paralegal, and will perform graduate level roles.

You will develop both key practitioner skills such as case management, legal research and legal writing in addition to generic employability skills such as time management, team working and commercial awareness.

In addition you will also have the option of sourcing your own placement with a firm of solicitors or a comparable provider of legal services. The selection process varies between individual placement providers. Students who are successful in securing a placement of this kind will transfer into the placement option at the end of Year 2.

Please note that neither the placement scheme nor the option of a self-sourced placement year is currently available to students studying the four year joint honours Law and Modern Languages programmes as these programmes involve the third year of study being spent abroad.

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