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ON CAMPUS guarantee honestly that if students were less worried about having to pay their rent , having to find some way to buy their groceries during their placements , they would actually be able to progress on the placement . We would be able to learn so much more and honestly , we would be so much more productive during those placements . We would be able to achieve so much more during that time period .
Placements are probably still the best way to get into the industry and learn skills you might not learn at uni . What are some other creative options you think we could put in place if organisations aren ’ t willing to pay ? How could we get around it rather than it being just being a case of employers paying or not paying the minimum wage ? Personally , I believe that it shouldn ’ t be the organisations paying the full fees . It should definitely be more of a JobKeeper kind of scheme run by the government , where it ’ s more of a student-support thing rather than coming directly out of the organisation ’ s bank account . Especially given it is such an amazing learning opportunity , we wouldn ’ t want any organisations to resent students or resent placements based off them having to pay the students .
In regards to being more creative , that ’ s definitely one way of doing it . But I think other options , like doing online placements , are worth considering , especially given the fact we are currently doing online classes , particularly in my university : I think the world has definitely changed a lot within the last year . We suddenly have , in a lot ways , so many more opportunities and so many more creative options than we did even 12 months ago .
What ’ s next for you ? The petition has been successful , so what are the next steps ? It ’ s very exciting , actually . Honestly , we ’ re just going to keep pushing it . There are a lot of really passionate people supporting the petition behind the scenes as well .
We ’ re expected to work full-time for 12 weeks per placement with very little time to actually find any other source of income .
And I don ’ t think any of us are quite ready to let it go just yet , so we ’ re going to keep pushing it to the media . We ’ re going to keep sending out those signatures , keep sharing the petition , getting as many signatures as we possibly can on that petition and trying to get as much media attention as we possibly can .
If anyone is interested in signing the petition , you will find it at change . org / paidstudentplacements . So if you are interested in supporting that cause , feel free to look that up and sign . We all really appreciate that support as well . ■
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