New guidelines state college students must be given work experience chance

All college students should be given the chance to do work experience in order to help develop their skills, new guidelines state.

Glasgow College Riverside Campus. Picture; Keith Hunt

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) advice “sets out the expectation that all college students will benefit from high-quality work placements”.

The guidelines are being launched by Employability and Training Minister Jamie Hepburn during a visit to New College Lanarkshire.

They state: “Work placements and experiences provide rich opportunities for students to develop the vocational and technical skills required for a particular job. They also enable students to develop the essential soft skills they will need for a successful career and for life more generally.”

The guidelines do not prescribe how long work experience placements should last for, saying instead that the focus should be “on the quality and outcomes for students rather than the number of hours”.

SFC interim chief executive John Kemp said: “Colleges are already working well with employers and industry across the country and we want to make sure that every single student gets the benefit of this.

“From traditional placements to visits and simulation workplaces like in-college salons and restaurants, students really value work experience and with so many employers looking for experience as well as qualifications, so do employers - it makes a real difference to job prospects and future careers.”