Im currently carrying out my work placement for college. Its 12 weeks 9-5.30 unpaid.
Previous student dropped out and they begged him to stay for another 4 weeks so they could get someone to cover him.
I got trained in for a day and now I carry out a department by myself. They get 3/4 students every year and they rely on getting them and use them as free labour. Doesn't really help with experience as I'm carrying out the same experiment all day rather than getting experience with multiple types of lab work.