Join our network and become a Professional Experience Host
Could your enterprise benefit from an infusion of new talent? Would you like to support the emergence and development of a new generation of designers, artists and media makers? Would you like to be first in the queue to identify and potentially hire energetic, imaginative and skilled new staff among the next generation of creatives who will disrupt and transform the world we know today?
For more than 25 years UNSW A&D has developed and coordinated opportunities for students to undertake sustained workplace placements and to pursue industry pathways in a reciprocal relationship that sees businesses receive the very best in student innovation and entrepreneurship.
Professional Experience Project
UNSW Art & Design offers three practice-based undergraduate degrees — Fine Arts, Media Arts and Design. Under our new 4-year degree program structure, all undergraduate studio students are required to undertake a Professional Experience Project (PEP) as part of their studies. This program ensures graduates benefit from sustained and grounded experience in a professional environment, builds industry pathways and ensures that UNSW Art & Design produces work-ready graduates matched to industry needs.
With our PEP program currently accommodating more than 200 students annually, we invite companies and institutions, creative practices and professionals from across the breadth of art, design and media fields and the wider economic, cultural and social sectors to host professional opportunities for our talented students.
Why become a host
Through faculty and students drawn from more than 50 countries globally, UNSW Art & Design is Australia’s largest community of art and design practitioners, researchers, educators and students. By becoming a PEP host, your organisation becomes part of our global art and design network which is committed to developing the creative talents of our students, to collaboration, experimentation and innovation, qualities that are sometimes difficult to identify and harness in business practice.
This commitment to fostering creative potential and accelerating innovation is intrinsic to our learning and teaching environment. We equip our students with the skills and capacity for creative and design thinking so they can make their critical mark on the world. Hosts participate in a reciprocal exchange of work and mentorship with our students, offering invaluable real world work experience and in turn benefitting from the students unique skills, energy and creativity, with the possibility of continuing the relationship after graduation.
Your commitment
You will host a UNSW Art & Design PEP student for a minimum of 150 hours. PEP hosts agree to offer relevant work in the context of the student’s professional training, to act as mentors for the intern, and to provide brief feedback on the intern’s work at the end of the placement.
Beyond these minimal requirements, PEP is a highly flexible program; employers select applicants on merit, suitability and fit, and agree the work program and schedule to be undertaken with the candidate prior to commencement.
Registration
If you are interested in hosting an intern from UNSW Art & Design you can register in 5 minutes by completing the Business Profile form below.
What happens next?
Once registered you will be contacted by a UNSW Art & Design representative who will provide you with further information and give you the option to post opportunities that will appear on a noticeboard visible to students participating in PEP.
If you’d like to find out more about whether you would make a suitable host, or get more information about the types of student candidates that are available, the type of work hosts offer, please contact Emma Sinclair by email at pep.artdesign@unsw.edu.au providing brief details about yourself and/or your company/practice and the work you undertake.