Some 450 000 undergraduates participated in work placements, internships or field work as part of their study in 2017, according to Universities Australia.
The data is in federally funded research on work-integrated learning arranged by UA member universities with industry partners.
Work placements (43 per cent) are the most common workplace experiences, followed by industry projects (23 per cent), fieldwork (10 per cent) and industry simulations (13 per cent).
Health and education students take work placements, with IT, engineering, architecture, management, commerce and creative arts participating in industry based projects.
Nearly 360 000 Australian students took on work-experience placements in 2017, with 93 000 internationals participating.
All sensible stuff, but with placement programmes now the norm the support students expect in developing generic job search and securing skills will surely escalate to include personal development and search programmes.