Professional placements are in many, if not most, university courses these days, with the goal being to strengthen the students’ industry knowledge and links. But what is the price of these placements, particularly when students have to forgo their usual paid work to complete them? Could another solution be found? To discuss this I’m talking to Olivia Armitage, whose petition to end unpaid placements has now garnered nearly 10,000. In this podcast, Armitage talks about how the idea for the petition was formed and how her fellow students thought that unpaid placements for up to 500 hours "were pretty messed up". She added that, for Victorians students in particular, "to expect us to just give up paid work after we've spent nearly a year ro regain it, is absolutely ridiculous." Not having to worry about unpaid placements would also allow students to "focus on their studies". To solve this issue, Armitage is proposing a government-led Jobkeeper-like scheme and perhaps the use of more online technology.