Placement toolkit

Formal agreements should be developed between JCU and your organisation whenever there are JCU students participating in student placements or projects. This can be either in the form of an MOU, a deed, a schedule, or a student placement agreement.

Agreements must be in place before a student starts their placement or project with your organisation. They are designed to ensure that expectations and logistical arrangements are clear for you and your student. Agreements on Intellectual Property (IP) ownership should also be recorded within all agreements. Usually if a student is not paid then that student will own the IP.

Depending on your industry and professional accreditation requirements, student placements may also be called: clinical placements, clinical education, professional placements, legal placements, professional experience, Prof.Ex, work-integrated-learning (WIL), fieldwork, field trips, experiential learning, service learning, internships, professional industry experience, professional internships, and practicums.

Both the academic supervisor at JCU and your professional/industry supervisor may contribute to assessment of students’ performance. You/your team will usually be expected to provide constructive, ongoing performance feedback throughout the placement or project. Feedback to students should be:

• aligned with their learning goals
• personalised, timely and expected
• focussed on behaviour that can be modified

JCU also appreciates your feedback on ways in which we can improve our curriculum to ensure our students are prepared for authentic placement experiences.

Our curriculum focusses on authentic learning experiences to develop students who are work-ready.

Our students are encouraged to network and develop employability skills throughout their study at JCU. They have access to a work placement preparation program, career action plans, networking events and online training modules. Online modules include: effective workplace communication, thriving in a workplace, and teamwork.

Each student on a placement in your organisation should have workplace health and safety induction as soon as they arrive. Students should also have:

• a workplace supervisor
• a dedicated work space
• defined hours
• a tour of the workplace
• an explanation of workplace confidentiality and ethics agreements
• a copy of your workplace code of conduct guidelines/policy.