Work Experience Bursary: Eligibility Terms and Conditions 23/24

The Terms and Conditions set out in this document govern the award of Work Experience Bursaries (as defined below) and must be complied with.

What is a Work Experience Bursary?

The University knows how vitally important it is for students to gain work experience to build up experience, skills and confidence in the workplace.

Work experience includes all forms of paid or unpaid experience in the workplace, other than placements which form part of a degree programme (“Work Experience”). A limited bursary fund has therefore been established to help support current, registered, full-time undergraduate students (“Relevant Students”) of The University of Manchester (“University”) with some of the costs associated with undertaking Work Experience that has been secured on an individual basis. (“Work Experience Bursary”)

If you are a Relevant Student, you are entitled to apply for a Work Experience Bursary of up to a maximum of £250 in each academic year. If you are a Relevant Student and in receipt of the full maintenance loan (e.g. household income less than £25,000) to support your studies and/or a bursary or other financial support from the university, you are also eligible to apply for an additional £750, and therefore up to a maximum of £1000 in each academic year. If you are unsure of your financial status please refer to the student support funding pages.

The Work Experience Bursary will be awarded on a competitive, first come first served basis, assessed against the strength of the information provided in the application form (see “How to Apply” below), until the allocated funding for the Work Experience Bursary has been exhausted. There is no guarantee that an application will be successful or that you will receive the full amount requested.

The Work Experience

You must secure your own Work Experience, which can either be full-time or part-time. The Work Experience must be conducted with a reputable organisation, company or individual within the UK, and must comply with, amongst others, the following conditions.
The Work Experience must not:
  • form part of a degree programme, e.g. industrial placements; and
  • exceed 15 hours per week if undertaken during term time, or 40 hours per week if undertaken during vacations;
  • be completed during an intercalation year;
  • promote or endorse illegal activity;
  • be immoral, unethical, offensive, or otherwise detrimental to the University’s reputation or interests;
  • be connected with a pyramid, multi-level marketing or similar style selling scheme;
  • represent an undue health and safety risk;
  • be connected with the adult/sex industry or be associated with adult content;
  • involve writing or sharing academic related material for use by other students; and/or
  • be connected with the tobacco industry; and/or
The Work Experience must:
  • contribute to your personal development, your skills development and/or support your future career aspirations; and
  • be completed by the end of June in the case of final year Relevant Students.

The University reserves the right to assess the suitability of the Work Experience as part of the application process and its decision is final.The University accepts no responsibility for the Work Experience or any other matters relating to, or arising out of, it and excludes its liability for all matters (including without limitation any employment-related issues) related to, or arising out of, the Work Experience.

What can a Work Experience Bursary cover?

A Work Experience Bursary can cover travel, accommodation or dependent care costs incurred by a Relevant Student as a result of undertaking Work Experience in the UK (“Expenses”). Please note, "dependent care costs” refers to the costs of childcare or a dependent relative incurred whilst undertaking work experience.

Please also read our Terms and Conditions relating to:

How to Apply

Overseas Experience

Evidencing Expenses