Category Archives: Economics

Student Case Study

Free People Having Business Meeting Together Stock Photo

Name of Student: Ethan Xavier Thomas Earl 

Degree Subject: Economics & Finance 

Job Title: Project Coordinator 

Company Name: University of Exeter 

Description of Organisation:  

This project is funded by the Education Incubator and led by Barrie Cooper and the Digital Learning Developers in the Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy.  The Education Incubator supports staff from across the University by creating spaces and funding projects in which they can explore and develop pedagogic innovations and ideas. 

Type of Internship:   

Student Campus Partnership (SCP) | Employer Engagement & Student Employment | University of Exeter  

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship? 

Creating content for blogs and social media. Gaining and exhibiting leadership experience when helping to direct events and work processes. Also, showcasing the space to prospective users including students and staff. 

What was your biggest achievement on your internship? 

Increasing the number of people borrowing equipment from the Digital Maker Space, especially through a showcase event held at the end of term which was mostly directed by the interns. 

Were there any challenges and how did you overcome these?  

Sometimes we had differing perspectives on what opportunities to pursue for an event at the space, but listening to the diverse range of approaches resulted in a better final approach than any individual would’ve achieved. 

Skills Learnt:  

  • Communication  
  • Teamwork and Collaboration  
  • Problem Solving 
  • Leadership 
  • Customer Service 
  • Organisation 
  • Time and Workload Management 
  • IT 
  • Decision Making 
  • Researching 
  • Focus on Goals and Outcomes 

Attributes Developed: 

  • Logical thinking 
  • Creative thinking 
  • Independence 
  • Work Ethic 
  • Professionalism 
  • Motivation 
  • Personal Awareness 
  • Confidence 
  • Initiative 

 

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector? 

My internship experience was my first professional experience and provided a fantastic opportunity for me to gain experience to showcase to prospective employers. Throughout the internship, I learned a lot about the importance of communication and setting goals to achieve the desired outcomes. Finally, I think it was incredible to work alongside two other interns and Barrie our manager, along with a few others, to form a close-knit team which greatly improved the Digital Maker Space over the course of my time there. 

Student Case Study : Caxton FX

Name of Student:  Olive Stansfield

Degree Subject: BSc Economics

Job Title: Corporate Intern

Company Name:  Caxton FX

Description of Company: Caxton FX is a UK-based foreign exchange, international payments and prepaid card provider based at Portland House in Westminster, London, England. It is a registered money service business with HM Revenue and Customs and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Type of Internship:   Access to Internships (A2I)

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

Competitor analysis, analysis of low-profit customers and administrative tasks.

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?  

Outputs: two competitor research reports for the two main products offered by my employer. Outcomes: a resource for all staff members to use e.g. when on sales calls to assist in promoting Caxton above its competitors. My research were also used by marketing to assist in development of new social media campaign.


What did not go so well on your internship? How did you overcome any challenges?

I struggled with ensuring I was still included in team meetings as this internship was remote. I feel that if this internship was not remote I would have gained more experience and been involved in more tasks.

Skills Learnt: 

  • Teamwork and Collaboration
  • Customer Service
  • Researching
  • Organisation

Attributes Developed:

  • Commercial Awareness
  • Independence
  • Work Ethic
  • Professionalism

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector?

“I really enjoyed this opportunity and I am very grateful to the University for enabling the internship. I’ve gained some very important employability skills and am now interviewing for a full-time role within the company!”

Employer Case Study: QWERTY Beer Box

Name of Organisation: QWERTY Beer Box

Description of Organisation: QWERTY Beer Box is a year one University of Exeter startup, formed in March 2020 to give independent breweries the national recognition they deserve. We’ve since put together 4 independent craft beer selections (Best of the Cotswolds, Devon, Bristol and Wales), partnered with over 40 breweries, worked with numerous high profile corporate clients and sold over 1500 QWERTY Beer Boxes. In 2021 we are looking to triple our 2020 annual sales, export British craft beer to the EU and explore numerous other sales channels.

Name of Employer: Quinn Leatherbarrow-Stokes

Job Title: Co Founder

Internship Scheme usedAccess to Internships (A2I),  Student Business Partnerships (SBPs) 

Feedback:

Together with the intern we were able to define a project that would entail discovering and pursuing incremental sales opportunities in the B2B market across the Southwest (Devon, Cornwall & The Cotswolds). They became an expert in this area of the business and were able to add value to the overall business. Although not leading directly to immediate sales it has paved the way for future expansion and we are in the process of bringing them back on board come September.

Given the results achieved and the attitude and talent demonstrated by the student I do not think there are any obvious improvements. One aspect that I did find helped the relationship was that I was a student at the University of Exeter last year and so was aware of other commitments and we were able to work together on this.

The A2I team have been amazing. They worked with us to put together a job listing and advertised it to the talented students at the University of Exeter. We had a shortlist of students and were able to find someone who was perfect for the role. The student themselves added significant value to the QWERTY Beer Box team and business and gave us the extra capacity to pursue incremental opportunities.

Student Case Study: Regency Wines 

Name of Student:  Reubin Bhogal 

Degree Subject: BSC Business Economics WIE

Job Title:  Graphic Designer

Company Name: Regency Wines

Type of Internship:  Access to Internships (A2I), Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)

Description of Company: Regency Wines is a family-owned regional wine merchant dedicated to sourcing and supplying wines and spirits to the licensed trade. We are proud to be different to most drinks companies. We are a specialist wine and spirit merchant, with a passion for great customer service.

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship?

Creating and preparing a brochure for Regency Wines to advertise their available spirits to their clients.      

What outputs and outcomes did you deliver for your employer?

Designed guidelines and master pages for the brochure including guidance on the fonts, layout, and colours in and InDesign document.

What was your biggest achievement on your internship?

Regency Wine wanted a professional but engaging design to promote their spirits to clients – I was therefore asked to conceptualise and explore design ideas for the brochure. I collected and asked relevant questions to my boss and the team to uncover the theme and design style that may be most appropriate for the use-case before presenting back multiple ideas to the team – iterating on these designs after reviewing feedback. As a result we were able to land on a design that was appropriate for the business and all team members could agree on.

Skills Learnt 

  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Negotiation
  • Focus on goals and outcomes
  • Ability to work under pressure

Attributes Developed 

  • Researching
  • Creative thinking
  • Customer Service
  • Confidence
  • Professionalism

Your message to other students considering a similar job role, organisation or sector?

“My internship at Regency Wines involved conceptualising and designing a brochure for the company to advertise their spirits to prospective clients. The experience involved providing my insights and advice regarding appropriate design practice before delivering design concepts for the team to consider. This then translated into setting up an InDesign document to effectively present and highlight Regency’s products.”

Regeneratus Consulting 1 Limited – Employer Case Study

Name of Organisation:  Regeneratus Consulting 1 Limited

Description of Organisation: Based in Exeter, Regeneratus Consulting is a consultancy firm with a focus on helping develop and improve businesses of all shapes and sizes from owner-managed SMEs to FTSE 100 companies.  We are currently helping clients with turnovers ranging from £100k to £20bn.

Name of Employer:  Robert Install

Job Title: Managing Director

Internship Scheme used:  Access to Internships (A2I)Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)

Feedback:

I was really impressed with our Business Analyst intern.  He was polite, organised and efficient with good insight and an impressive commercial acumen. He helped source potential funders for a debt advisory mandate we were involved with which generated some income and also provided some helpful research and analysis.  I am confident that he will have a highly successful career and I was particularly impressed with the diligence he was showing in terms of sourcing graduate roles and summer internships in his first year.

The Internship Scheme run by the University exceeded our expectations, the quality of the applicants and the intern we hired was very impressive.  I would recommend it to any small business looking to source potential graduate talent and help develop students for the workplace and when the business requires it, will certainly be using the service again.

Quote from Intern:

“Aided in providing debt advisory services to a Welsh government-backed construction group, by securing £3m against assets. As well as, led research for in-house investment opportunities; created target profiles, forecasted returns and made recommendations.”

Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service – Employer Case Study

 

Name of Organisation: Devon, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service

Description of Organisation: Devon, Somerset & Torbay Trading Standards Service has a wide-ranging role in ensuring fair trading by supporting businesses and protecting consumers. The Service is committed to maintaining legal compliance to help ensure that businesses do not take an unfair advantage over competitors or consumers.

Name of Employer: Jay Capel

Job Title: Trading Standards Lead Officer

Internship Scheme used:  GBP

Graduate Business Partnership (GBP) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Feedback:

We recruited a Trading Standards Social Media Intern through the graduate business partnership with the University of Exeter. Our intern had a project to deliver which he did in a timely and professional manner. Devon County Council IT and salary payment system left a lot to be desired, but Oliver coped well and used his own IT skills to good effect.

Our intern also gave several presentations where he dealt with the audiences well and answered questions in a very mature and matter of fact manner.

Recruitment of the intern was an easy-to-follow procedure assisted by a knowledgeable team where nothing was too much trouble. It was a pleasure working with the intern who demonstrated a good work ethic and showed a maturity beyond his years. We really enjoyed having him on board and recommend the internship schemes provided by the University of Exeter to all types of businesses.

Devon County Council- Employer Case Study

Name of Organisation:  Devon County Council 

Description of Organisation: Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon which is based in the city of Exeter. The members are elected every four years to reflect the electorate of each county division. Most being nominated by the large national political parties. 

Name of Employer:  Heather Hillman

Job Title: Team Manager

Internship Scheme used GBP 

Graduate Business Partnership (GBP) – Employment Services – University of Exeter

Feedback: 

We recruited a graduate to work as Economic Development Project Assistant in the Business Innovation Team within the Economy, Enterprise and Skills ServiceThe intern provided secretariat and administrative support to 2 ERDF funded Programmes.   

Our Intern’s hard work enabled both Programmes to meet the funders requirements for complianceIn order to do this, she organised and recorded steering group and management board meetings, checked output claims and instigated robust document retention plans.  

We enjoyed a positive intern experience and found that the candidate was fully able to understand the complexities of providing Project Management support within the content of European Funded Programmes. Our graduate was offered another role in Devon County council when her contract had finished. She made a very brilliant contribution to our company and worked well within our dynamic team.  

 

  

  

  

Finance Assistant – Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

As part of the finance team, I took on any extra work required. This included work such as composing a review on specific products, which comprised of an overview of the product and analysis of particular cash flows in order to determine the most profitable as well as providing insight to the performance of the product. Another responsibility I undertook as part of the internship was compiling account balances then data mapping these in order to create trial balances of various subsidiary accounts. I also verified bank reconciliations.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Over the course of the internship, I taught myself how to efficiently data map and use Excel in a more exceeding manner, which will be beneficial in any finance position.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

Any part of the finance department would give me work that they were unsure how to do (usually on excel) or if they needed any support doing tasks. This would have helped provide the company work more efficiently than otherwise.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Communication, problem solving, networking

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Confidence, motivation, logical thinking

ESI Research Assistant – University of Exeter, Penryn

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

During my time as a research assistant I had one main role – this was to research Circular Economy in both theory and practice across several different nations. Nations and areas researched included Costa Rica, Kenya and the European Union which was to be used during presentations and a very brief start to a research paper. I was given a new nation to research each time I finished my work making this was my main role in ESI.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

My ability to research effectively and put it into writing vastly improved.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to lighten the workload for my professor who is currently researching a project.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Communication, problem solving, time and workload management

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Initiative, logical thinking, professionalism

Equity Sales Intern – Redburn

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

During my internship I shadowed a member of the equity sales team and supported them with their tasks. My tasks included: preparing materials for clients (including reports and presentations), making note of market news stories on a timely basis, researching companies and building a relationship with the research team, and, creating a network with employees and other interns. Over the internship I also carried out a research project.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

My biggest achievement was adding value directly to clients – this was most evident when a piece of research that I had written about dividend stocks, was included in an email to a client.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to reduce the workload of colleagues (e.g. by manipulating data on excel, to free up their time). I was also able to improve the offering to clients, by producing a sector specific information pack for income investors.

What skills were you able to develop through the internship?

Communication, IT, networking

What attributes were you able to develop through the internship?

Commercial awareness, perseverance, creative thinking