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WIL for Hosts

The Work Integrated Learning (WIL) program is designed to allow high performance students to spend time embedded in an industry setting prior to graduation.

Who Do We Contact About Hosting a WIL Student?

If your organisation is interested in hosting a WIL student, please contact our WIL Coordinators for the Computing and Security discipline or the Science discipline at ssciwil@ecu.edu.au and ensure to include your organisation name and a contact person that the WIL Coordinators can speak with.

What Processes Are Involved?

For an organisation to host a WIL student a few processes must be undertaken first.

  • The WIL coordinator sends organisations the resumes of potential WIL students for consideration. Organisations can invite the student for an interview. The interview can be either informal or formal in nature at the discretion of the organisation.
  • If the student is successful in obtaining a placement, we prepare the required paperwork to be signed by the WIL coordinator, the student, and the industry host.
  • Industry hosts ensure that the student undergoes an induction process and has access to the appropriate resources and facilities necessary to perform their WIL duties.
  • Industry hosts must provide the student with sufficient supervision and feedback to allow the student to perform the work activities they have been assigned during their placement.
  • The WIL coordinator liaises with the student and industry host throughout the semester and meets for a midpoint check in. Industry hosts can contact the WIL coordinator at any point through the placement.
  • At the end of the placement the industry host submits a student performance evaluation report to the WIL coordinator.

Are Students Paid?

Whilst there are an ever-growing number of industry scholarships available to students that can be used in conjunction with a WIL placement, in most cases placements are unpaid. Unpaid placements allow the university to cover a student’s insurances during the duration of their placement.

For these unpaid placements students are expected to work with their industry partner full-time for 12 weeks or equivalent. It is expected that the host organisations will provide students with meaningful work activities or projects during their placement as well as a workspace and computer or any required equipment.

Ultimately, the WIL program is designed to give benefit to both the student and the industry host and is not designed to provide a free workforce for purely commercial and profit making activities.

Benefits of WIL for Industry Hosts
  • The benefits of hosting WIL students vary from organisation to organisation, although the most reported benefits include:
  • Organisations identifying potential talent prior to those students graduating
  • Providing staff with mentoring and leadership opportunities
  • Many hosts wish to ‘give something back’ by contributing to the development of the next generation of professionals in their discipline
  • Potentially gain exposure to new ideas and approaches from soon to graduate university students
  • Increased opportunity for industry/university collaboration
  • Exploration of ‘blue sky’ projects
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