For many years many institutions within the Businet network have been providing the opportunity for students to complete a period of work experience outside of the students’ own country as part of their study programme. This has been done both with the support of the EU (Leonardo mobility projects, and Socrates Erasmus) and without European assistance. An analysis of the result of these placements informed that there was a need to consider the quality aspects of the placements provided and the placement process. Further questions were raised about how the validity of the placements could be measured, the recognition of the placement period, and how the value of the experience could be maximised, for all stakeholders in the process, the college, the student and the host company. To try and address these issues, an application for a Leonardo Thematic action project was made and accepted by the Commission. The project named Framework Q will provide a model for placement preparation, provision, mentoring, evaluation and recognition. The project provides an in depth examination of the three phases of the work placement – pre placement, during placement and post placement