Madiha Mehmood, Director of Marketing and Communications for Girl Grind UK and placement supervisor, said: “At Girl Grind UK, we are on a mission to empower marginalized voices and promote visibility within the arts sector.

"Our work spans innovative campaigns, creative collaborations, and community-focused projects that challenge societal norms and create opportunities for underrepresented groups. Driven by values that are bold, courageous, free, and honest, we strive to break barriers and foster authentic expression.

"Placement students like Feizo are integral to this work. They bring fresh perspectives, cutting-edge digital production skills, and a willingness to push boundaries. Their contributions not only reflect our core values but also help us make a tangible impact in the arts, ensuring our work continues to be disruptive, inclusive, and inspiring."

T-levels are Level 3 qualifications for 16-19-year-olds that are the equivalent of studying three A-levels. T-level placements are typically made up of two days per week during term time over the two-year course.

In general, T-Level digital placements can include experiences in areas such as IT technical issue resolution, website design and maintenance, app development, games design, data analysis and management, networking, cyber security and CRM systems.

They might also get involved in programming and coding, software, technical trends e.g. AI, 3D printing, planning digital projects and working with digital environments (physical, network, virtual, cloud).

Other example of University College Birmingham’s T-level digital placements in non-digital businesses include West Midlands Transport Police, who are providing a digital placement focusing on data management and analysis.

Others include a furniture and soft furnishing company, which is providing a website development and e-commerce placement, and a solar panel company working with students on programming to create an application on their website.

Benefits of placements to employers include gaining young, fresh insight, developing a pipeline of talent that can fill entry-level positions, enabling existing staff to gain supervisory and mentoring experience and tapping into cost-effective recruitment as the placements are unpaid.

“It also helps with businesses’ corporate social responsibility, enabling them to give back to their local community by developing the skills of the future workforce,” said Bethan.