You can find answers to frequently asked questions below:
WIL is an acronym for Work Integrated Learning. WIL prepares you to develop the skills and competencies to succeed in your field, following your graduation. Several work learning opportunities are embedded in every course, to provide you with an opportunity to support your employability. In addition, within SBCI, the following four courses are specifically designed to provide you with an exciting opportunity to fully engage in a WIL placement or a WIL project.
For Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) students:
For Bachelor of Communication, Bachelor of Creative Industries, Bachelor of Design and Bachelor of Music Students:
The WIL Program provides an opportunity for you to collaborate with, or work directly alongside, employers and industry professionals, and community groups, to gain work experience relevant to your chosen career or field, prior to graduating. The WIL Program may provide a valuable foot in the door for your future career prospects.
At SBCI, the following four specific courses are designed to provide you with an exciting opportunity to fully engage in work-integrated learning placement or projects.
For Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) students:
For Bachelor of Communication, Bachelor of Creative Industries, Bachelor of Design and Bachelor of Music students:
In a WIL project course (BCI300 and BCI302), you will work in multidisciplinary teams with other students to complete an applied or research project that will develop a solution to a current industry problem, or seize an emerging opportunity.
In a WIL placement course (BCI301 and BCI303), you will be required to complete 96 hours of workplace learning, which is completed at a designated business. Students should source their own placements before enrolling in the course. For more information, please contact SBCIWIL@usc.edu.au.
In this course you will work on a group or individual project in one of the following three streams. In each stream, students will apply their unique skillset and discipline knowledge and competencies to complete an industry facing project. Each project is monitored and assessed by an academic advisor in the relevant field:
Industry-project Stream: In this steam, students will join interdisciplinary groups to work on a project that is developed in collaboration with industry. The projects usually involve developing solutions to address a current industry problem, or seizing a new opportunity.
Entrepreneurship Stream: This stream allows students to work in groups to propose a new start-up or work on developing their own product, prototype, service etc. In this pathway students engage in start-up type processes to realise an entrepreneurial outcome.
Research Stream: Students who can demonstrate a record of academic excellence (GPA of 5 or above), will have the opportunity to join the research stream. In this stream, students will develop an individual research project to explore a topic they are passionate about, or to solve an industry problem.
Students source their own placements, however the school is building a strong network of partnerships whose placement opportunities will be advertised on Sonia. After assignment to a placement, students work directly with a workplace supervisor on site in a host organisation. Students must complete 96 hours of placement. Each placement is also monitored by a USC-based academic supervisor, who is an expert in the field that the student is working. The nature of the tasks and activities students undertake are determined by the placement hosts and are designed around the specific discipline knowledge and skillset that students possess
These courses are for final year students. Students must have completed at minimum 192 units (16 courses). Please refer to the course outlines to learn more about pre-requisites and eligibility.
Please note: Students will generally undertake a maximum of 24 units of WIL courses across their degree. This includes students whose degree requires them to successfully complete both the WIL Project course (BCI300 or BCI302) and the WIL Placement course (BCI301 or BCI303). Should students have an elective course available to them, these students may choose to use that elective to undertake the WIL Project course for a second time; or they may choose to use that elective to undertake the WIL Placement course for a second time. Prior to submitting an Expression of Interest to undertake a WIL course for the second time, please check your academic transcript to ensure you are eligible to take your chosen course and that you meet this Program rule. In exceptional circumstances, students can seek permission from their Program Coordinator to enrol into a WIL course up to three times.
WIL Project (BCI300 and BCI302)
Course Coordinator consent is not required to enrol into either of the WIL Project courses. Students may enrol themselves
WIL Placement (BCI301 and BCI303)
Prior to enrolling into one of these courses, all students should submit an Expression of Interest form using Sonia Online (click here).
Business students complete the Business Work Integrated Learning Placement Expression of Interest - BCI301 WIL Placement registration form.
Creative Industries students complete Creative Industries Work Integrated Learning Placement Expression of Interest - BCI303 WIL Placement registration form.
All Students: Please select your preferred semester or session, and year. You will need to upload your academic transcript and resume on each form. Once you have completed that process your details will be reviewed by the Course Coordinator and considered for approval. You will be notified of the outcome and provided with further instructions in a timely manner.
Students source their own placements, however, the school is constantly receiving high level and relevant placement opportunities from our industry partners and community groups. Students who submit their EOI will then have access to these industry and community group placement opportunities. Additionally, the Student Hub career development website (link here) may also include relevant work opportunities.
For enrolment into a WIL Project course (BCI300/BCI302), students must meet the standard UniSC policy governing course enrolment.
The deadlines and processes are very different for enrolment into a WIL Placement course (BCI301/BCI303). The process from the time of submission of the Expression of Interest Form to enrolment into the course is quite lengthy. Therefore, it is important that students commence the process as soon as possible. The deadlines for submitting your EOI in 2023 are as follows:
- Semester 1, 2023 – Friday 27th January 2023
- Semester 2, 2023 – Friday 23rd June 2023
- Session 8, 2023 – Friday 27th October 2023
The deadlines for submitting your EOI in 2024 are as follows:
- Semester 1, 2024 – Thursday 25th January 2024
- Semester 2, 2024 – Friday 21st June 2024
- Session 8, 2024 – Friday 25th October 2024
Once the EOI has been submitted, there are numerous additional steps involved in gaining approval to enrol and commence your placement. Firstly, as already stated in the above FAQ, students are responsible for sourcing their own placements, however, the school is constantly receiving high level and relevant placement opportunities from our industry partners and community groups. Students who submit their EOI will then have access to these industry and community group placement opportunities. The Student Hub career development website (link here) may also include relevant work opportunities.
Once a placement partner has been identified and agreed to accept the student as their placement student, students must complete a Notice of Successful Interview Form (NoSIF) which is sent to the host for confirmation of all details. All necessary forms are provided to students in an email from central WIL office once the EOI has been approved.
Please note: Students must submit the NoSIF no later than three weeks prior to Teaching Week 1 to progress to enrolment. Students who miss this deadline will have to pursue a different course.
The university will arrange a Placement Partnership Agreement with the host partner and undertake a Host Risk Assessment. This part of the process can take several weeks to complete. That is why it is so important that you submit your EOI as soon as possible.
On the WIL Program page, you will find resources that you can provide to potential hosts. These include the Host Fact Sheet and the Industry WIL Guide.
There are numerous Pre-Placement Modules and other forms students must submit in a timely fashion that are administered by central WIL office.
Please be prepared and start the process early.
We work closely with industry and community partners to ensure that the project or placement offers a meaningful learning experience to students. Please click here and here to access information about Fair Work.
No. Students must actively participate in the WIL Program and be enrolled in either a Project or Placement course while completing the associated assessments.
Yes. A WIL Project course will follow a regular coursework schedule incorporating online material, workshops and seminars. Please refer to the course outline.
In a WIL placement course, you will need to attend a mandatory workshop prior to the placement. Further optional sessions may be scheduled to support students’ progress.
If you cannot secure a placement, you may consider enrolling in a WIL Project course.
The WIL team at the School may be able to offer a limited number of placements which are advertised on Sonia Online.
Yes, assessments are a central component of The WIL Program and provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate where, when, and how they have applied existing field specific skills and competencies and how they have developed new skills. Please refer to the course outlines.