Work with our students and graduates

Bringing enthusiasm, energy and creative thinking, Kingston University students and graduates can work with your business in a number of ways, helping it to innovate and grow, whilst you provide valuable work experience.

Our supportive and inclusive community is one of our greatest strengths. Our students come from a diverse range of backgrounds so can offer a fresh outlook as well as cutting-edge, industry-focused skills and expertise.

Employability is at the core of all our courses – our students and graduates are work-ready with the motivation and capability to enhance your business.

Students are encouraged to think creatively, solve problems and work as a team, equipping them well for the evolving workplace of today and the future.

There are a number of options for businesses and organisations to work with our students and graduates:

Recruit students and graduates

Student at work on research

Access a wealth of skills and disciplines by hiring one of our motivated students or graduates. Our recruitment team can provide innovative solutions to help meet your resourcing objectives. Their expertise spans a range of subjects and sectors allowing a tailored approach for your business. A free advertising service to promote paid vacancies to students and graduates is also available.

For further information, visit careers and employability or contact careers@kingston.ac.uk

Offer placements and internships

Student engaged in business research while on placement

Kingston University offers a range of placement and internship opportunities for undergraduate and postgraduate students which can provide your business or organisation with an excellent short or medium-term recruitment solution and an opportunity to gain fresh, innovative thinking on business challenges.

In today's fast moving, competitive, globalised world it has never been more important to recruit and build a global workforce and our students will help you do just that – they bring cultural awareness, diversity and academic excellence to your organisation.

Placement students can be recruited from areas such as business, law, social and behavioural sciences, education, nursing, midwifery, social care, science, engineering, computing, art and design, media and communication, publishing and journalism – and more.

Placements can start at different points in the year and last from a few weeks up to a year. Hours per week vary and employers are encouraged to pay students the London Living Wage.

For further information, visit careers and employability or contact careers@kingston.ac.uk

Student consultancy

Two students collaborating on research

Student projects are an excellent opportunity to bring new insights into your business whilst at the same time developing the skills of our students and giving them valuable ‘hands-on' experience.

Get in touch with us to find out more about student consultancy.

 

There are various student consultancy programmes including:

Kingston Business School student consultancy projects

Kingston Business School student consultancyBoth our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes place a strong emphasis on practice as well as theory. Companies can get involved in a variety of initiatives, ranging from short assignments that share best practice/current thinking on a given topic to student projects that focus on your business issues. Student projects vary in length from 2 to 16 weeks, with students working in groups of two to six on a brief agreed with you.

Kingston Business School runs a variety of student consultancy projects for businesses to get involved in. These range from projects that focus on your business issues to short assignments that share best practice/current thinking on a given topic. 

Some examples of past and current projects include:

Re-branding in the third sector (PDF)

A student consultancy project addressed a complex re-branding challenge for a voluntary healthcare organisation, resulting in a redesigned website and segmentation strategy. 

Accelerating the launch of an innovative start-up (PDF)

Market research and the development of an analytic tool to estimate viewership is under development with Signeer as it launches its innovative outdoor advertising platform. 

Strategies for growing business in the UK and Abroad (PDF)

A two-year KTP partnership with Kingston Business School delivered a successful rebranding, overseas expansion and an improved management structure and business processes for M3 Housing Ltd.

To find out more about the short assignments, what student projects are available and their timings, please feel free to contact the following academics:

Studio KT1

Studio KT1

Studio KT1 is a creative agency powered by Kingston School of Art, offering businesses and organisations an opportunity for students to work on their commercial briefs. Students gain real-world experience and get paid for their work alongside their studies, and businesses can access the innovation and creativity of our students.

The initiative aims to increase student employability, encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration and makes student talent available under a commercial model for the very first time. We have recently worked with BBC, Canadian and Portland, Kingston First, Canary Wharf Group, Unilever, Veolia and Mozilla.

For further information visit the Studio KT1 website or contact c.selby@kingston.ac.uk

Hackathons

Hackathon

Kingston University runs a programme of Hackathons which enable businesses and organisations to access the problem-solving capacity of our innovative students and expert academics. Hackathons are problem-solving workshops where students work in teams to solve defined challenges for public, private or third sector organisations. Solutions might include new or improved products and services, or the students might provide new insights and thinking about the problem or context.

Hackathon

Hackathons help to develop our students' capacity to be innovative, including creative thinking and problem-solving skills and approaches.

Hackathons are a great way to access talented students and develop innovation in your organisation. You will also be inspiring the next generation of graduates by providing them with live briefs to work on.

For further information visit the Hackathons webpages or contact Amanda.Baker@kingston.ac.uk

 

Supporting our students

Our supportive, multicultural and inclusive community is one of our greatest strengths. We are committed to increasing access to higher education for everyone, but in particular for under-represented individuals and groups.

Why not give something back by sharing your expertise and experience and supporting a Kingston University student? There are a number of ways you can get involved:

Support and encourage our entrepreneurial students

Kingston University is home to the most enterprising graduates in the UK! If you are interested in helping our students develop their entrepreneurial skills, there are a number of ways you can get involved in Kingston's Enterprise Education activities including mentoring, joining a judging panel, or funding projects.

Our graduates have an unrivalled reputation for starting their own businesses. Kingston has been consistently rated as one of the most successful UK University for graduate start-up companies by HESA.  Help our students develop an enterprising approach to their future careers.

Visit Enterprise Education or email entrepreneurship@kingston.ac.uk for more information. 

Mentor our students

Mentoring students

Beyond Barriers is a mentoring scheme to help students from under-represented groups in higher education achieve their potential through a tailored one-to-one relationship.

Share your valuable knowledge and experience over a period of six months and support a Kingston University student in working towards their goals. The Beyond Barriers mentoring scheme will broaden your own skills and judgement whilst also giving our students the skills and confidence needed to succeed in their chosen career.

Visit Beyond Barriers Mentoring Scheme to find out more, or email beyondbarriers@kingston.ac.uk

Sponsorship and CSR opportunities

The Development, Alumni Relations & Engagement team works with businesses to help them achieve their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) objectives and recruitment needs by enabling them to philanthropically fund scholarships and bursaries, or find students for their internship opportunities. The team works with academics across all courses, as well as with award-winning programmes that support less privileged students, like KU Cares, to develop meaningful engagement activity with our students that help you meet your objectives for the industries that you work in.

Contact the team for further information. 

Work with our students and graduates