The Faculty of Social Sciences offers a range of paid placements exclusively to students who are underrepresented in higher education. Our dedicated teams are committed to not only increasing accessibility to higher education for students from widening participation backgrounds, but also to ensure these students get exclusive support and career related opportunities once they are enrolled.
Students from underrepresented backgrounds in higher education can fully access the opportunities available to all students and therefore improve social mobility. Students are offered three week-long summer bursary-paid placement opportunities to support them in gaining practical experience to support their future career development. Annually we are able to support 26-30 students with a three-week paid placement bursary, paid at the UK ‘Living Wage’.
Application criteria
To be able to apply for an internship, you must be a home fee paying undergraduate student in your first or second year of study from the Faculty of Social Sciences and meet one of the criteria listed below:
- Be in receipt of a University of Nottingham Core Bursary or a Nottingham Potential Bursary.
- Have a declared disability. If you haven't declared a disability to the university but would like to choose this option, please contact stephen.vaccarini@nottingham.ac.uk before continuing with your application.
- Identify as having Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) ethnicity.
- The home address used on your UCAS application is in an area where people are less likely to go to university. A postcode check is carried out post application to confirm this so there may be instances where applications aren’t accepted on this basis.
- Be a mature student (21 or over at the start of your course).
- Have spent more than three months in local authority care (this can be at any point in your life).
- Be under 25 and estranged from your family.
- Be a carer.
- Have refugee status from the Home Office.
Students whose most recent school/college was an independent school (non-state school such as a private fee-paying school or grammar school) are not eligible for this scheme.
Example placement opportunities
- Marketing and Fundraising Assistant for the Rosie May Foundation
- Classroom Assistant at Phoenix Aspirational Learning Support
- Researcher at The Ditchley Foundation – bringing together decision-makers across government, finance, technology, academia and civil society to engage in formal conferences and small-scale meetings
More information
We would like to thank Faculty Education Student Experience, Faculty Ops, and the Access and Participation Fund for providing this generous grant to enable these placement opportunities to take place.
If you are interested in placements and want to know more, email Steve Vaccarini, Faculty Placements Manager at stephen.vaccarini@nottingham.ac.uk