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

My role was to coordinate two of the department’s five National Higher Education STEM Programme projects in collaboration with partners at other South West universities. The projects focuses on employer engagement, particularly within the mathematics and engineering curricula. I organised focus groups and interviews with academics, students and local employers and drew up a series  of case studies of good practice for employer engagement. I also formulated a series of recommendations to improve employer engagement within CEMPS and contributed to an online toolkit of advice for Higher Education Institutions nationally.

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

The internship was particularly useful to me in learning how to network within a large organisation and how to get the most from meetings and interviews with other staff members. My communication skills have definitely developed as a result of working on these projects and my confidence in presenting my work to others has been boosted!

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

The projects I conducted would not have been possible without my input and coordination.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

At times, the work was very challenging and getting cooperation from some individuals was tricky on occasion, but that made the successes of the projects feel like real achievements.

“Dawn has worked to a consistently high standard and excelled in balancing demands across multiple projects” – Line Manager