Business Industry Placement (RBUS3999)

Course overview

This course aims to provide final year students with the opportunity to apply conceptual knowledge to the real world via a professional placement. As such, this course strongly links discipline learnings, personal employability skills and attributes developed by students across the duration of their studies with the challenges and expectations of working in industry. In doing so, students have the opportunity to gain valuable work experience in their chosen profession and to connect this experience to the development of a workplace ready skill-set. Successful completion of the course will provide students with the employability skills required for transition to the world of work. Further information about how to apply for RBUS3999 can be found on the BEL Faculty's work-integrated learning website.

RBUS3999 is a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) course that provides students with the opportunity to apply their conceptual knowledge to the real world via a professional placement or industry project. The placement allows you to integrate your theoretical and conceptual knowledge with the skills and problem-solving techniques required in the workplace. As such, the course is particularly focused on enabling you to develop your employability skills, gain knowledge, understand the attitudes of business professionals, grow your professional network, and engage with real world business issues.

What is employability?

The University of Queensland has an employability framework that focuses on four themes: 

• Awareness - understanding employability as both degree knowledge and the attributes that guide workplace performance;
• Experiences - engaging with a range of experiences to develop the skills and attributes for employability;
• Learning - uses self-reflection to translate experiences into employability development; and
• Transfer - communicating employability effectively in the recruitment process and transferring learning into workplace performance.

This means that during this course, you will have the opportunity to: 

• understand your skills, strengths and areas for development;
• work on specific projects in an organisation, and develop your role within that organisation;
• work with a range of diverse people, and assist others and teams with tasks;
• apply employability skills, and practice your skills to develop them further;
• reflect on the skills and qualities that enhance your employability; and
• develop a personal value proposition.

Why is Business Industry Placement important?

Your employability and career success are important outcomes of your degree. The Business Industry Placement aims to develop awareness of your employability strengths, development needs and how to create an action plan to strengthen these needs. Thus, it is structured to promote a valuable industry placement/project, real work experiences and assist in bridging your transformation from student to reflective practitioner. 

Placement/Internship requirements

You will need to undertake an industry work placement (internship) of 80 to 120 hours throughout (or before) the semester. You should find your own work placement in a functional area of management practice in an organisation that is willing to host you and provide meaningful project work to further develop your skills and abilities. As an example, you might choose to complete your internship in one block of 3 or 4 weeks full-time, 3 days a week over 4-5 weeks, or 2 days a week over 7-8 weeks. Completing one day a week of your internship hours is not recommended as experience has shown the likelihood of you being given realistic work tasks and/or being included in the work team is significantly reduced. It is your responsibility to negotiate your working hours with your industry host, as well as manage your time effectively to attend all the scheduled learning activities throughout the semester. Support is available from the BEL Faculty Employability Team to help you source an appropriate host organisation.

NOTE: Before you commence your internship, it is important you first refer to the BEL Work-integrated Learning (WIL) website to familiarise yourself with the process of having your internship approved before it can be considered suitable for course credit. Access the website using this Link. Your internship commencement date should be within 6 months of the start date of the semester in which you are eligible to complete your WIL course. If your internship commencement date is outside of this time period, you may be advised to source a new internship for your WIL course.

Course requirements

Assumed background

Before gaining entry to this course, students will need to have successfully completed 24 units within their respective program with a grade point average (4.00 or higher) and have approval by the BEL Employability team.

Prerequisites

You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:

GPA of 4.0 or higher. Approval required from Head of School via BEL Student Administration Team.

Incompatible

You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:

RBUS7999

Restrictions

Restricted to students in the final year of the BBusMan, BCom, BTHEM and BIHTM programs, including duals.

Jointly taught details

This course is jointly-taught with:

This course will share teaching activities with RBUS4999 and RBUS7999.

Course staff

Timetable

The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.

Additional timetable information

As you will be in the placement organisation for 100 to 120 hours there is limited seminar or lecture involvement. Seven seminars are provided to assist students through the Course. Attendance is required to maximise your assessment and the available support for your placement. Arrangements to attend are made between the student and their employer.

Due dates for assessment items will be published on Blackboard.

You must check your university email address for announcements about RBUS3999/RBUS4999/RBUS7999, for updates and additional information throughout the semester.

Please note: Teaching staff doﾠnotﾠhave access to the timetabling system to help with class allocation. Therefore, should you need help with your timetable and/or allocation of classes, please ensure you emailﾠbusiness.mytimetable@uq.edu.auﾠfrom your UQ student email account with the following details:

• Full name,
• Student ID, and
• the Course Code

Aims and outcomes

This course provides students with an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge and practical skills in a workplace.

Learning outcomes

After successfully completing this course you should be able to:

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment details

A1. Video pitch

Mode

Oral

Category

Presentation

Weight

20%

Due date

20/09/2024 5:00 pm

Learning outcomes

L01, L03, L07

Task description

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

A2. Professional Development Plan

Mode

Written

Category

Essay/ Critique

Weight

30%

Due date

18/10/2024 5:00 pm

Learning outcomes

L01, L03, L07

Task description

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

A3. Critical Workplace Reflection

Mode

Written

Category

Reflection

Weight

50%

Due date

25/10/2024 5:00 pm

Learning outcomes

L02, L04, L05, L06

Task description

Submission guidelines

Deferral or extension

You may be able to apply for an extension.

Late submission

A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.

Course grading

Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.

Additional course grading information

Grades will be allocated according to University-wide standards of criterion-based assessment.

Supplementary assessment

Supplementary assessment is available for this course.

Learning resources

You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.

Library resources

Library resources are available on the UQ Library website.

Learning activities

The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.

Policies and procedures

University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:

• Student Code of Conduct Policy
• Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
• Assessment Procedure
• Examinations Procedure
• Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure

Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.

You'll also need to be aware of the following policies and procedures while completing this course:

• Placement
• Work Integrated Learning and Work Experience