1. Sandwich placements: Negating the socio-economic effects on graduate prospects
Michael Kerrigan, Amy Manktelow & Eunice Simmons
April 2018

2. What is a sandwich placement?
A sandwich placement refers to a course with an additional assessed year (normally the 3rd year of a four year full-time UG course) where the student works in a profession related to their study programme 2

3. How many students take a sandwich placement?
It varies greatly both between UK universities…….. (ranges from 0% to 89% of students)
and within universities……… (e.g. ranges from <10% to >60% of students across NTU’s eight academic schools) 3

4. What do we know so far? UK and international studies found that
Students from low socio-economic backgrounds are less likely……………
And students on sandwich placements are more likely…………….
To progress to graduate level employment – even after controlling for other entry characteristics
Our research sought to explore the extent to which these known socio-economic effects on employability prospects are affected by WP students’ participation in sandwich placements 4

5. Research methods Analysis of bespoke dataset provided by HESA
Derived from the DLHE survey
Sample size of 350,000 graduates in full-time employment approx. six months after graduating from full-time HE
Interviews with 14 alumni of NTU undergraduate sandwich courses held 18 months after graduation 5

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7. Students who graduated from a sandwich course were significantly more likely to get a professional job across all university mission groups 7

8. The socio-economic gaps in professional employment rates were much smaller for sandwich courses. For NTU and others they disappeared entirely 8

9. But, WP students were considerably less likely to take up sandwich placement opportunities9

10. Factors influencing graduate level employment
Mode of study (sandwich v other full-time)
Socio-economic group (non-WP v WP)
Age (mature v young)
Gender (male v female)
Degree classification (higher v lower classification)
Subject area
University mission group
Above factors remain significant after controlling for the other influential factors 10

11. Probability of progressing to graduate employment
Age 21-24
‘Affluent achiever’ (non-WP)
Male
First class degree
Business & Admin course
A University Alliance institution 11

12. Why are sandwich placements beneficial?
Increase motivation leading to improved attainment
“I got used to working 9 to 5, having a fairly full-on schedule. … I found that in the final year I was much more driven, much more focused. … If definitely reflected in the fact that my lowest grade [in my final year] was still higher than some of my higher grades in my first and second year.”
Provide a professional and personal network of contacts
“When I was close to finishing my placement, one of the partners said to me if I want to come back just drop them an closer to the time. And then towards the end of my final year, I dropped an to that partner … and they just sent me a contract.”
Increase confidence and develop a sense of belonging
“The placement added a lot of value as far as self-confidence and my ability to carry out work is concerned. I was given a lot of responsibility in that role and a lot of trust and it showed me what I was capable of when I was pushed in that kind of way. So that was brilliant.” 12

13. Why are sandwich placements beneficial?
Enable students to apply skills to the ‘real world’
“Communication is a key skill I learned from the placement year because I was talking to account managers on a daily basis which obviously helped me establish my business communication.”
Give students an ‘edge’ over other graduates
“A lot of the work that I’d done on my placement I put in my portfolio. So I’d say 50% of my portfolio was my placement work. And I got feedback after getting the job. They just loved my portfolio.”
The capital derived from the work placements allowed existing capital gleaned from university to be reinforced
“The placement has made me more professional. The way I come across, the way I speak, the way I present myself. The work placement was a good stepping stone to where I am now. The professional world in not easy to settle into and the placement definitely did help me.” 13

14. But not everyone wants to do a placement…..
Encouraging others
“I really enjoyed it as well as learnt a lot so I would still encourage anyone considering it, or even more so, not considering it, to do it. … When only two people out of my entire course put their hand up and said they were planning to do one, I was surprised and I asked them why. And to be frank, the only response I got was ‘I can’t be bothered’. So I’d encourage anyone to do it essentially.”
Mandatory placements?
“I guess with the placement schemes, I think it should be more of an opt-out rather than opt-in type scheme. I reckon it’ll be good if you’d have to give a really good reason not to go on a placement. Because for me, especially my degree, it was so beneficial. I did not understand anybody that would not do it.” 14

15. Implications of findings
Work placements have the potential to be one of the great equalisers between WP and non-WP students
Proactively encouraging WP students to ‘upgrade’ to a sandwich course potentially beneficial
But WP students may lack the social capital to take up such opportunities – can therefore accentuate disadvantage
And we acknowledge that four year courses may not suit all
Who should take responsibility? Universities or students?
What about shorter work-place opportunities?
And what about mandatory placements? Would take away self-selection processes……… 15

16. Conclusions
Participation in sandwich placements are universally beneficial
And can negate the socio-economic effects on graduate prospects
Mandatory schemes are likely to help level the playing field
Some universities have clearly taken positive action – with the majority of students (WP and non-WP) on placements.
It is no coincidence that these institutions have higher rates of graduate employment than the average for their mission groups 16

17. NTU’s response
NTU have enabled almost all courses to include a sandwich year
However, opportunities are not always readily available
And we typically find that placements are taken up by students with existing social capital
Further research now being undertaken to ascertain the length of placement required to have the desired effect
And developing the approach at scale to ensure that all students and all courses have an assessed work-like experience from
Based on the evidence, this could make a meaningful contribution to upward social mobility 17

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