Undergraduate industrial placements
Undergraduate placements in pharmaceutical industry - applying knowledge from academia to solve real-world problems in industry.
Undergraduate industrial placements
Undergraduate industrial placements can be undertaken as part of a degree to gain additional research experience within an industrial setting. Often these are a year in length, completed as a 'sandwich placement’ (where a year away from university is taken to complete the placement), or less commonly can form part of a final year research project. There may also be opportunity to undertake a short summer internship, a few of which are captured in our survey. These placements are usually the first experience a student has within the pharmaceutical sector and outside of academia, allowing them to explore their degree outside of an academic setting whilst also networking to increase employability for post-university.
Placement Duration
Pharmaceutical companies in this survey have reported a total of 699 undergraduate placements. 88% of which are 1 year in duration.
Figure 1. Undergraduate placement duration from the 2024 survey. Responses from 13 companies including nil returns. 2022 had 14 respondents.
Business area
Figure 2. Undergraduate placement business area from the 2024 survey. Responses from 13 companies including nil returns.
15 different business areas were reported in the 2024 survey.
When thinking of the pharmaceutical industry, science often springs to mind, but it is clear there is a wide range of different business areas that undergraduate students may complete their placement within. From the 2024 survey, pre-clinical R&D and clinical R&D are the most popular business areas, totalling just over half, which is consistent with previous surveys since 2013. This was followed by manufacturing (12%), other (9%) and marketing (7%).
Top 3 Academic Institutes with undergraduates completing an industrial: placement within a pharmaceutical company:
- University of Bath
- University of Sheffield
- University of Nottingham
Location
From the 2024 survey, we have captured undergraduate placements supporting students from 70 different academic institutions across the UK. This highlights the strong links between industry and academia.
Survey responses show the University of Bath has the most undergraduate students completing an industrial placement within a pharmaceutical company.
Figure 3. Location of undergraduate placements within the UK. Responses from 13 companies including nil returns.
University of Bath
The University of Bath excels in developing exceptional students, who become the leaders and change makers of the UK and global workforce. We have an enviable record in graduate employability, consistently ranking in the Top 10 nationally and our placement years are central to this success, providing essential knowledge and hands-on experience. Industry collaboration and links with the pharmaceutical sector are core to our mission, and confer a real career premium for our students as well as benefitting our industry partners. Helen Stringer, Director of Employability and Student Success at the University of Bath
Additional links:
- Read more about undergraduates.
- Explore our careers resources.
- Find pharmaceutical companies offering placements.
Last modified: 18 December 2024
Last reviewed: 18 December 2024