Work experience and industry links
Students on any of our courses can incorporate a year out in industry or a vacation placement.
Gaining relevant work experience during your degree is hugely advantageous when entering the graduate job market. Through our links with industry, we have a large number of students who undertake (often very well-paid!) work experience. Such work experience gives our students a strong competitive edge in securing permanent employment.
Seven people were considered for the post and the Leicester graduate was head and shoulders above the second-choice candidate. One of the main factors that first got my attention (and then became a serious deciding point) was that they had had two extremely relevant industry-based periods of vacation work [...] two extended periods at the sharp end were big selling points.
Placement destinations
Recent placements include work in a number of sectors with a range of companies:
Energy and hydrocarbons
- BG Group
- Chemostrat
- Mitra Energy (Kuala Lumpur)
- Neftex
- Statoil
Environmental and geoconservation
- Aggregate Industries
- Aquaterra
- Arup
- Atkins
- British Antarctic Survey
- Earth Heritage Trust
- E.ON
- Graham Construction
- Hanson Aggregates
- Murray Environmental
- National Grid
Mineral exploration and mining
- Ariana Resources (Turkey)
- Asarco (Nevada)
- Carl Zeiss Microscopy
- Codelco (Chile)
- Consolidated Nickel Mines (Zambia)
- Cupric (Botswana)
- Exploration Network (Finland)
- First Quantum (Mauritania)
- Ivanhoe (Australia)
- Medgold (Portugal)
- Micromine (Mongolia)
- Mineral Exploration Network (Finland)
- Orosur Mining (Chile/Uruguay)
- Platina Resources (Greenland)
Research
- Museum of Croydon
- Open University
In addition, students have also gained placements working in volcano observatories and working as science communicators in museums, and many students gain experience in research through involvement with ongoing research led by academics in Geology at Leicester.
Industry links
More than 50 companies are actively involved with us, by funding major research projects, offering work experience, providing data and logistical support for student projects and giving specialist lectures. We have particularly close links with the British Geological Survey, Aggregate Industries, Carl Zeiss Mircoscopy, Micromine and a number of mineral exploration companies, and many students complete projects with support from these organisations.
Many of our links with employers are through our graduates. We also have a number of industrial bursary schemes that give students exposure to industry through project work and summer placements, plus financial support towards their degrees.