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Begin your creative careers before graduation

Find out the benefits and opportunities of a placement year in a creative career

Use your creative skills on an industry placement year on many of our creative courses. This placement year takes place before the final year of your sandwich degree course.

When you do a placement, you'll work for a year for a business or startup company. You can also take a short-term placement if that better suits your studies. Or you can do a self-employed placement year running your own business.

Previous students studying art, design, performance, film or media spent their placement years as photographers, production interns, 3D modellers and film editors.

Our students have had incredible experiences on their placements. A fashion intern at FatFace had her design sold on the high street, one of our students was a runner on a film starring Michael Caine, and one of our students on placement with Paul Smith worked at Paris Fashion Week. 

Only to be used for case-study purposes

I was lucky enough to work in industry during my placement year at Vacherin in 2018, where I took on the role of their marketing assistant. This was of great value to me, gaining experience of working in a real-life company, and the opportunity allowed me to learn new skills in a professional setting. I made invaluable contacts there and can now move forward with a better insight into what is expected. Vacherin also nominated me for Best Placement Student of the Year 2018, an award that recognises the significant contributions students make during their placement year. This was exciting for me and I was even lucky enough to win the award; it is one of my proudest moments of university.

Kate Duxbury, Vacherin placement student, BA (Hons) Media Studies

Placement year roles

The type of role you’ll apply for depends on your interests within the creative and cultural industries.

Some of the roles our students have done during their sandwich year placement include:

  • Photographer
  • 3D modeller and designer
  • Production intern
  • Interior design intern
  • Film editor
  • Marketing executive
Emily Haysom, placement student at The Walt Disney Company

For many courses, the University gives you the opportunity to take a placement year in between the 2nd and 3rd year of your studies. After a long application process, I was lucky enough to be accepted for a year’s internship at The Walt Disney Company, which will really help me when it comes to getting a job. That year, in particular, taught me so much and helped me make a lot of contacts within the industry; it was a dream come true.

Emily Haysom, The Walt Disney Company placement student, BSc (Hons) Media and Digital Practice

Placement locations

Self-employed placement opportunities

You could run your own business or startup on your sandwich year. Or you could work with other students to build a profitable company. If you go down this route, you'll get mentoring and support from us.

Creative careers placement students have started a business in areas such as:

  • Computer game development
  • Website development
  • Freelance photography
  • Freelance film-making

Browse our courses

Are you ready to increase your employment opportunities and strengthen your skills by doing a sandwich year degree? Browse our placement degree courses now.

Browse our degree courses with work placement

Work experience opportunities

As a Portsmouth student, you'll get lots of work experience opportunities to try out job roles, apply your skills to different sectors and increase your employability.

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Volunteering opportunities

Discover the benefits of volunteering for a charity or not-for-profit whilst at university. Find a role that matches your interests and career ambitions.

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Student startup advice

If you've got a passion for entrepreneurship and a great idea for a new business, we can help you get up and running.

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Contact us

To get in touch, please contact our Faculty placement office.

Phone: +44 (0)23 9284 5181

Email: creative-careers@port.ac.uk