All undergraduate courses in the School of Engineering offer students a period of industrial placement during year three of their degree programme.
According to a recent survey, 90% of the students found their placement experience was either 'well up to', 'beyond' or 'far beyond' their expectation.
And 97% of students returning from placement said they were either generally, 'very' or 'extremely' satisfied with their overall placement experience.
The survey found that up to two-thirds of students in the School of Engineering returned to university after industrial placement with either a definite job offer on graduation, sponsorship in their final year or an indication of interest in employment on graduation by their placement provider.
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Ron Laird, Industrial Placement Coordinator in the School of Engineering said this high level of satisfaction among students is down to a number of factors.
"The School of Engineering has established an excellent network of contacts with leading local companies in Northern Ireland, multi-national companies operating in Northern Ireland as well as companies in the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and overseas."
Mr Laird said many local companies are now looking to (the website) 'engineering@Ulster' when trying to recruit high quality applied engineers for placements and graduate employment opportunities.
"Companies concerned about their future recruitment of engineers are looking there for their graduate engineers because of their excellent experience with our students on placements and Ulster's reputation,
"As well as leading to valuable developmental experience which in turn can lead to well-paid employment, engineering students can earn a good salary while on placement and, so, are able to return to final year study with some savings.
"We currently have more placement jobs than we have students to fill them and with more engineering jobs available than there are engineering graduates, this is definitely a good time to be an engineer," added Mr Laird.
(PR)
