“I found it amazing waking up in a different place every day.” This is how Oxford Brookes graduate Ben McEwen summed up his work experience on the QE2 cruise liner and although other work placements may not offer quite this variety of venue, they nonetheless help to broaden horizons.

An increasing number of Oxford Brookes students are using graduate-level work placements to kick-start their careers while still at university. Oxford Brookes has long standing partnerships with some of the most exciting employers around; from blue chip companies and major multinationals to dynamic small and medium enterprises, all of which are on the doorstep in the prosperous Thames Valley and M4 corridor.

This year, for the first time, History and Music students also undertook placements. Some of the historians put their knowledge to work in Oxford Castle Unlocked, Oxford Preservation Trust, Dorchester Abbey and the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics.

Meeting new people, being treated like a fellow professional and developing specific work skills, all help with confidence building and by sampling a specific company and trying out roles within that company, students can test out their career choices before they embark on their first real job. In fact, research suggests that employers see work experience as part of their recruitment process, with 20 per cent of placement students being offered permanent jobs where they worked.

Amy Ferriday is one such Brookes graduate who has been taken on by her work experience employer. In her third year, Amy worked for Gardner and Theobald, a top construction consultancy firm based in London. Now, with a first class honours degree in Construction Management to her credit, she has been taken on permanently.

Amy, who has always been fascinated by construction and building sites, relished the opportunity to put skills and knowledge gained at Brookes into use in a real setting.

"Out there in the industry it all makes sense," she said. 'You take what you learned at Brookes and put it into effect. In my placement, I also learned to approach things in a more professional manner and to be more thorough because that's what work requires. I was able to bring that approach back to my studies in the final year."

The skills Ben McEwen learned on the QE2 ranged from how to clean a toilet to how to manage a team. He gained 'shop floor' experience in the reception, bar, cabin service and dining room as well as learning about finance and foreign exchange regulations.

Although the hours were long and the work demanding, he managed to visit Norway, the Mediterranean ports, South America, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Hawaii, India - the list goes on.

'The placement gave me lots of confidence," said Ben. "Hospitality is all about meeting people and networking and I have developed an impressive collection of international contacts." He acknowledges the support of the staff at Oxford Brookes in relation to his placement: 'They look after you from the word go. The programme was well managed and the process smooth. You are required to do a substantial piece of work in connection with the placement and the tutor makes it clear what is expected."

Ben says his placement helped him to achieve a first in his International Hospitality Management degree. He believes it was also key to helping him gain his first job as a graduate management trainee with Lexington Catering, high end contract caterers for blue chip companies.

Work experience means that for many students the world of professional work is no longer the great unknown awaiting them at the end of a degree course. As Ben, Amy and many of Oxford Brookes graduates have discovered it can be not only part and parcel of their course but also the first step in their careers.