Twelve months of paid work. Before you graduate.
Not an internship scheme bolted onto a degree. A structured, assessed, compensated requirement that every undergraduate completes to qualify.
Why it is compulsory
The gap between graduating and being employable is not knowledge; it is the absence of a year spent inside a working organisation, being held to its standards. Forward refuses to hand that cost to graduates and employers after the fact. It is built into the qualification.
Placements are compensated because unpaid work filters for family wealth, not talent. They are assessed because a year that nobody grades is a year nobody improves.
How the year runs
- 1
Matching
You are matched to partners against your programme's employment thesis, not to whoever has a vacancy.
- 2
Contracting
Forward contracts the placement: scope, pay, supervision and duration are agreed in writing.
- 3
Two placements
Most programmes split the year so you see two different kinds of organisation.
- 4
Assessment
A supervisor review, a reflective portfolio and a delivered work product are all graded.
- 5
Conversion
Partners hire directly from placement. We publish the conversion rate.
Current stage · honest numbers
Where the programme actually stands
First co-op cohort enters placement in 2029. These figures stay at zero until then; we publish them anyway.
See all published accountability figures