Placement Support for Students & Employers
If you have a student on a short placement, please contact the Placement Coordinators for support.
Their contact details can be found from here.
If your student is currently on a sandwich year placement, please contact the appropriate Placement Development Advisor. Their contact details are included at the bottom of this page. The PDA role and support offered to employers is described below.
If you are unsure who to contact, please feel free to email either a PC or a PDA in the first instance, who will help you further.
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Placement Development Advisors, (PDAs) are the primary contact during the long ‘sandwich’ placement. Our PDAs are recruited because of their knowledge, experience, and high professional standards in relevant industries.
Their contact details can be seen from the bottom of this page.
The PDAs support the student and employers during the placement and organise reviews and visits to the workplace. They will maintain communication with the employer during the placement. Whilst on placement student’s complete coursework as dictated by their course requirements. Employers are expected to complete an appraisal of the students’ performance, which can be in different formats depending upon the requirements of the Faculties.
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PDA responsibility to the student:
Every student is allocated a Placement Development Adviser (PDA) to support them throughout the placement year. In the normal course of events the student will receive at least one meeting during the placement. The meeting is primarily intended to monitor the student’s progress during the placement, through discussion both with the student and with the Supervisor/Line Manager.
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For the student, the PDA will:
- Organise and undertake a self-directed programme of professional visits to students on placement in consultation with the school and the Placement team in order to ensure that each student receives two reviews during the placement year (a mixture of face to face and remote)
- Facilitate satisfactory communication between the student and employer
- Ensure that students maximise the opportunities for training and development available during their placement
- Encourage students in the reflective learning process with regard to their own development and appraising the placement environment and working practices
- Offer guidance to the students in developing their learning logs/portfolios and to provide advice on the requirements and assessment criteria of their placement coursework
- Develop future employability of students by enabling them to recognise the transferable skills they are developing and to articulate the learning that is taking place within the CPD framework
- Help students to identify their career aspirations
- Give general advice on pastoral issues that may impact on the placement and be able to refer students to the support services available
- The PDA will inform the student some time in advance of their intention to visit, and the student will only agree the date and time of the visit after consultation with his/her Supervisor, to ensure both can meet with the PDA.
PDA responsibility to the employer:
The PDA can offer advice and guidance to employers including assisting creating a suitable placement structure and making the placement a positive experience for the student.
For the employer, the PDA will:
- Liaise with the host employers regarding issues or concerns which may impact on the placement and to offer support and advice accordingly
- Ensure that the workplace experience is compatible with course requirements
- Ensure that the employer is aware of the Intended Learning Outcomes of the placement within the student’s particular degree
- Seek feedback on the student’s performance and identify areas for future development / training
- Identify opportunities for future placements and graduate recruitment, as well as with other BU academic departments, e.g. employer talks, careers fairs, specialist events, knowledge transfer.
Placement Generic Intended Learning Outcomes:
- To gain practical experience within a broad industrial environment
- To apply a professional approach in the relevant industrial context
- To have exercised personal responsibility and maturity
- To utilise skills and knowledge gained during the first two years of the course to the solution of real problems
- To apply critical thinking, reflection and prediction skills to decision making
- To understand development needs and proactively engage in personal development
- To demonstrate appropriate transferable skills.
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Placement Development Advisers (PDA) – Contact Details
Updated April 2022
BU BUSINESS SCHOOL
BUBSPDAs@bournemouth.ac.uk
All programmes:
- Debbie Pye - dpye@bournemouth.ac.uk 07548 153 182
- Kim Hundley-Appleton kappleton@bournemouth.ac.uk 07834 172 286 or 01202 496582
- Kirsty Tyre - ktyre@bournemouth.ac.uk 07525 922045
- Miriam Bray - mbray@bournemouth.ac.uk 07718 805 452 or 01202 661409
- Nicola Kalmanovitch - nkalmano@bournemouth.ac.uk 07970 590 363 or 01305 269632
- Susie Pike - spike@bournemouth.ac.uk 07510 500 391
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FACULTY OF MEDIA & COMMUNICATION
FMCPDAs@bournemouth.ac.uk
Media production, Humanities & Law, Computer Animation, Communication & Journalism:
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FACULTY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
SciTechPDAs@bournemouth.ac.uk
Computing & Informatics, Design & Engineering, Psychology, Creative Technology, Life & Environmental Sciences, Archaeology & Anthropology:
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FACULTY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Health Sciences: Nutrition, Sports Therapy and Sport and Exercise Science
Social Sciences: Sociology, Criminology and Social Anthropology:
Nursing, Midwifery, Public Health, Physiotherapy, Physicians Associate, Occupational Therapy, Paramedic Science, Operating Department Practice:
All Clinical Placements contact the University Practice Learning Advisor Team -UPLA@bournemouth.ac.uk