UNIVERSITIES
If you work at a UK university we have three requests for you:
- Promote the Departure Board to your students and encourage them to apply for opportunities listed here.
- Create an account and then complete our partner registration form so that we can update you with research and insights in relation to student mobility.
- Ask students returning from overseas placements to ensure the opportunity is listed on the Departure Board so that one-off self-sourced placements are more likely to become repeat opportunities. Companies can tick a box which restricts the opportunity to be visible only to students at your university, if you like.
You might also be interested in our separate Provider Directory, where you can compare a range of selected third-party providers who have completed our due diligence process. We hope that over time, our reporting and insights combined with this directory will make your partner selection process easier and aligned to what your students are looking for.
Our founders have dedicated most of their professional lives to student mobility within UK Higher Education. We understand the mechanisms and challenges in the sector. With the Departure Board we wanted to create a useful resource and helpful reporting to empower and support student mobility professionals in HE, whilst also connecting you with high quality Providers. We hope our platform helps by:
- Organising a wide range of meaningful opportunities to work overseas in one place.
- Inspiring and informing students from all backgrounds to take part in an activity overseas.
- Anonymised data to inform your team of student preferences segmented by their personal characteristics, cohort and academic discipline, which will help you improve your mobility offer and marketing for admissions purposes.
- Improving the attainment gap and the student experience of BAME and WP cohorts.
- Undertaking due diligence on third party Providers to ensure that you only recommend ethical, reputable, high quality Providers to your students alongside our extensive listings of opportunities to engage directly with overseas employers.
Research & Insights
We aim to enable more students to gain experience overseas, particularly those who are less privileged or less likely to take part in an experience overseas due to their ethnicity or religion. By doing this and generating insights and reporting which support, inform and empower student mobility professionals at UK universities, we hope to contribute to making student mobility a vital strategic component of all UK universities.
Our research is led by our co-founder, Dr Jan Vandeburie. We supplement existing research by sector bodies such as UUKI, with a focus on work experience and volunteering. We publish a free annual report based on the insights generated by users on the Departure Board and create custom reporting for our paid university partners. These custom institution-specific insights inform mobility teams of student preferences segmented by their personal characteristics, cohort and academic discipline, which will help you improve their mobility offer and marketing for admissions purposes. By acting on these trends, our partners are improving the attainment gap and the student experience of BAME and WP cohorts.
To find out more about our research and insights, please contact us or register as a partner.
Partner With Us
There are 2 simple ways for UK universities to partner with the Departure Board
Free
- No formal agreement or cost. Simply review our platform, ask us any questions you have and then promote us to your students as widely as possible.
- Basic reporting. We'll let you know how many of your students used our platform and who they applied to.
Paid
- Agree to simple T&Cs when upgrading. You can pay by invoice or online with a credit/debit card.
- Full reporting & insights. We'll produce a full PDF report on your students' engagement and applications, along with formatted data from employers and Providers in relation to your students' participation, ready to add to your HESA submission.
- Collective Provider comms. We'll notify Providers when you have an upcoming event/fair, funding announcements or requests for collaboration from faculty.
OUR CHARTER FOR COMPANIES
A Commitment to Ethical, Supportive, and Sustainable Work Placements
At The Departure Board, we believe that international work placements should be safe, fair, inclusive, and ransformative experiences for all students. By signing this Charter, partner organisations agree to uphold the following standards of good practice and shared values.
1. Commitment to Student Support and Welfare
We pledge to:
- Provide a safe and supportive working environment that prioritises the wellbeing of all students.
- Ensure students receive a clear role description, appropriate supervision, and regular feedback.
- Offer induction or orientation to help students understand local workplace culture and expectations.
- Treat all students with respect and fairness, recognising their contribution as emerging professionals.
- Maintain open, honest, and timely communication with students and The Departure Board team.
- Ensure no student is exploited, asked to perform unsafe tasks, or assigned duties beyond their agreed role.
2. Commitment to Equity and Social Mobility
We pledge to:
- Provide opportunities that are accessible to students from all backgrounds, regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, or socioeconomic status.
- Avoid discriminatory practices in recruitment or workplace behaviour.
- Support students who may face barriers to international mobility by offering fair compensation, accommodation, or cost-of-living support where possible.
- Value the role of placements as a means to broaden participation and open pathways to global experience for underrepresented groups.
3. Commitment to Sustainability and Responsibility
We pledge to:
- Operate in ways that respect the environment and local communities.
- Strive to reduce waste and carbon impact related to internship activities (e.g., travel, office practices).
- Encourage students to contribute to sustainability goals, through workplace initiatives or community engagement.
- Promote ethical business conduct and transparency in all operations.
4. Commitment to Partnership and Continuous Improvement
We pledge to:
- Collaborate actively with The Departure Board and participating universities to maintain high-quality placements.
- Welcome feedback from students and use it constructively to improve future experiences.
- Notify The Departure Board of any significant changes to placement conditions, structure, or supervision.
- Uphold the integrity and reputation of the platform by ensuring all information shared is accurate and up to date.
5. Our Shared Values
Together, we believe in:
- Learning through experience
- Cultural understanding and global citizenship
- Fairness and opportunity for all
- Sustainability and ethical practice
- Mutual respect and collaboration
Our Approach to Third-Party Providers
We include third party Providers on the Departure Board to bring transparency to this part of the sector and save universities/colleges time by undertaking due diligence on a range of Providers. We have developed a due diligence process which Providers must complete in order to list opportunities on our platform.
Explore our listing of providers here.
Our registration process aims to give students and universities more confidence in relation to overseas programmes and increase participation as a result. Centralising this process and offering value to providers enables us to spend the time and resources needed to conduct due diligence and site visits for the multitude of providers that offer overseas opportunities to students at UK universities and colleges.
As well as the publicly visible information on their Provider Listing, our due diligence process asks Providers to provide:
- Proof of company registration, address and contact details
- Proof of public liability and professional indemnity insurance
- Risk assessment & emergency procedures
- References from participants and university partners (who we follow up with confidentially)
- Health & Safety policy
What we can do:
- Ensure that this process is robust and unbiased.
- Review providers’ policies, process and emergency procedures.
- Conduct detailed references with at least 2 university partners and 2 recent participants.
- Gather evidence to demonstrate that programme components match up to the provider’s website and marketing materials.
What we cannot do:
- We cannot guarantee that every student’s experience with a provider listed on the Departure Board will be positive.
- We do not underwrite the health and safety of a provider’s programme.
- We can’t respond to complaints made by students in relation to certified providers. We encourage students to raise complaints directly with providers and if necessary, their university. For any serious issues or concerns raised to us by students or universities which may bring into question a provider’s inclusion on our platform, we will follow up directly with the respective provider and take action where appropriate.