A year out between school or college and work or higher education can be very worthwhile and enjoyable. But make sure you think about how you want to spend your time.

Do you:

• want to work and earn money for university?
• want to travel - within the UK or overseas?
• want to learn something new?
• want to improve your language skills?
• want to volunteer with a charity?

The key to a good gap year is to get organised and make sure you’ll get the most out of it.

Ensure you get visas if you need them and leave plenty of time to check with the Foreign Office to ensure it’s safe to travel to the countries you have in mind. Your personal safety should always be top priority.

For more information, have a look at our Volunteering section or our How to plan a gap year leaflet for ideas on what to do.

The Gap Year website contains lots of useful advice to plan your gap year, including information on being safe, finance, insurance, communication, and what to take.

The Year in Industry (YINI) provides high-quality, paid placements for students in their gap year before or during their degree course. They have placements for students interested in all areas of engineering, science, IT, e-commerce, business, marketing, finance, and logistics. Do a year in industry and give your CV a competitive edge.