Tag Archives: Devon

Student Case Study

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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: Exeter Science Park

Name of Student: Rebecca Jones 

Degree Subject: Global Sustainability Solutions 

Job Title: Carbon accountant 

Company Name: Exeter Science Park 

Description of Organisation:  

Exeter Science Park is the South West’s centre of activity for businesses in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM). 

It is the result of a vision to develop a regional science park that stimulates a knowledge-based economy, delivering better jobs, higher productivity and economic growth. 

Their mission is to help innovative STEMM businesses to deliver extraordinary growth in a like-minded community. 

Type of Internship:   

 Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)  

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship? 

To calculate carbon footprint for Exeter Science Park and calculate emissions from commuting habits. Also, to provide recommendations on how to lower emissions and which aspects of business protocol were most carbon intensive and create presentation and report of findings. 

What was your biggest achievement on your internship? 

Creating a carbon footprint report for the whole company! The work increased my confidence, gave me insight into corporate life, and provided me with experience that has enhanced my CV massively. 

Were there any challenges and how did you overcome these?  

Being a remote worker, it was difficult to always stay in contact with the company. We scheduled weekly phone calls to overcome this. Also, being from a non-accounting background, I also struggled with some of the technical expense data. A combination of extra research and maintaining contact with the finance team helped me with this. 

Skills Learnt:  

  • Researching  
  • Organisation 
  • Problem Solving 
  • Communication 

Attributes Developed: 

  • Commercial Awareness  
  • Confidence 
  • Motivation  
  • Independence 

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

My internship experience was a highly-rewarding, independent and a challenging learning curve. I have learnt things about myself and the corporate environment that will be hugely beneficial to life after university. Undertaking the internship alongside my masters was challenging at times but has taught me how to balance high workloads and hugely enhanced my CV for postgraduate work. 

Employer Case Study: Devon County Council

Name of Organisation: Devon County Council: Communications Team  

Description of Organisation:  

At Devon County Council, they work to improve life across Devon for everyone. They want to create a place that people enjoy living in, as well as a place where people enjoy working. Every day, everyone who works there is making an impact and able to see the differences that they make to the people of Devon.At Devon County Council, they do everything they can to support staff and help grow their careers. Devon County Council and its staff seek to eliminate discrimination, advance equality and foster good relations. 

Name of Employer: Julia Hulland 

Job Title: Senior Communications Officer 

Internship Scheme used:  

The Graduate Business Partnership Scheme (GBP) | Employer Engagement & Student Employment | University of Exeter 

Feedback: 

“Seeing Hannah’s confidence increase during her time with us was very satisfying. She has some great ideas but had been reluctant to speak up in meetings and put her thoughts across. I hope she leaves us with a lot more faith in her own ability.”

“It has been an excellent experience and we are pleased to have been able to support another University of Exeter graduate in their first job. Unfortunately, our current budget pressures meant we were unable to offer Hannah an extension or full-time role with us, but this is absolutely not a reflection of her ability or suitability. We are very pleased that Hannah has secured a full time, permanent communications role in London. “

Student Case Study: VTEC Photonics

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Name of Student: Jeremy Prichard  

Degree Subject: Electronic Engineering 

Job Title: Junior Development Engineer Intern 

Company Name: VTEC Photonics 

Description of Organisation:  

VTEC Photonics, subsidiary of VTEC Lasers and Sensors is an innovation solutions company specializing in optics and data integration to create customized systems for a wide variety of industries, including fitness, telecommunication, manufacturing, environmental, and communications. 

Founded in 2011 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, VTEC Lasers and Sensors is committed to “Improving Quality of Life” with experience in opto-electronics going back to the 80’s developing lasers for the Philips CD-player. They provide technology and products for creating, transporting, bundling, analyzing, and presenting data.  

Type of Internship:  

 Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)   

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship? 

My key duties included undertaking a project involving PCB and software design. 

What was your biggest achievement on your internship? 

My biggest achievement was learning software development. 

Skills Learnt:  

  • Communication 
  • Teamwork and collaboration 
  • Time and Workload Management 
  • Researching  

Attributes Developed: 

  • Motivation 
  • Logical thinking  
  • Independence 

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

The internship was a great experience that taught me a lot about working within a company to develop a product. I was tasked with a project to add additional functionality to an already existing electronics product. This involved some PCB design but mostly software design. It was great to collaborate with other employees at the company and become part of a team. At times it was difficult to balance university work and internship work, but the flexibility of the job meant I could complete different tasks without having too much work. 

Student Case Study: JM Enviro Limited 

Name of Student: Lauren Burke 

Degree Subject: Geography 

Job Title: Flood Risk Consultant Intern

Company Name: JM Enviro Limited 

Description of Organisation:  

JM Enviro Limited was set in 2017 to provide coordinated environmental and engineering input to a wide range of infrastructure, buildings, and masterplan projects. 

Working collaboratively with clients, architects, planning consultants and other technical specialists, JM Enviro Limited delivers technical reports to inform feasibility studies, planning applications and input to design to ensure that the environment is protected and enhanced as part of the development process. 

Their main area of expertise is flood risk and drainage strategy input to buildings and masterplans, but we collaborate, and coordinate input as required on other environmental aspects such as ecology, contamination assessment, noise assessment, and air quality assessment as well as civil, structural, and geotechnical engineering. 

Type of Internship:   

 Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)   

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship? 

My key responsibilities included managing deadlines and ensuring reports were sent out on time. They also involved gathering information from multiple sources to put together flood risk reports 

What was your biggest achievement on your internship? 

My biggest achievement on my internship was helping to produce draft flood risk reports as well as greater self confidence in my capabilities.  

Were there any challenges and how did you overcome these?  

My biggest challenge was balancing deadlines alongside uni. I overcame this by setting small achievable goals.  

Skills Learnt:  

  • Communication  
  • Teamwork and Collaboration 
  • Focus on Goals and Outcomes 
  • Decision Making 
  • Researching 

Attributes Developed: 

  • Confidence 
  • Initiative 
  • Perseverance 
  • Motivation 

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

“Overall, my internship has been invaluable, and I have learnt so much during the process. 
I have developed valuable skills that I hope to take into the workplace and beyond. “

Employer Case Study: Devon County Council

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Name of Organisation: Devon County Council 

Description of Organisation:  

Devon County Council is one of the largest employers in the County. The County Council recently declared a climate emergency and post COVID-19 there is an urgent need to support the economic recovery. The Government continues to invest in infrastructure to stimulate activity on both these fronts with announcements for more investment in walking and cycling and in public transport. 

The transport planning and road safety team has a key role in developing transport plans to support delivery of ambitious housing and job numbers, whilst also ensuring that they respond positively to Devon County Council’s climate emergency declaration. 

Name of Employer: Hannah Clark 

Job Title: Transport Planning Team Leader 

Internship Scheme used:  

The Graduate Business Partnership Scheme (GBP) | Employer Engagement & Student Employment | University of Exeter 

Feedback: 

“Lauren has contributed towards researching economic benefits of active travel and provided support on public consultation activities. Lauren has also developed initial ideas towards the development of a Local Transport Plan. 

Lauren’s biggest achievement was running a public consultation for an active travel route in Dartmoor.  

Lauren was an exemplar intern, and we are delighted to welcome Lauren as a full-time member of our team.” 

  

Employer Case Study: East Devon District Council

 

Name of Organisation: East Devon District Council 

Description of Organisation:  

At East Devon District Council their ambition in the Communications, Digital Services and Engagement Team is to provide a proactive and reactive communication and digital service via all of the council’s external communications channels to ensure East Devon District Council’s reputation as an excellent authority is maintained. 

Name of Employer: Andrew Hopkins 

Job Title: Communications Consultant

Internship Scheme used: 

The Graduate Business Partnership Scheme (GBP) | Employer Engagement & Student Employment | University of Exeter 

Feedback: 

“Vic made an amazing contribution to our team and work during the year she was with us. From the moment she joined she made positive changes – increasing the frequency and quality of our social media content, our e-newsletters and having a willingness to take on any new task asked of her and would work with whoever we asked her to work with. This included working on special projects and events. When the HR intern left, Vic absorbed some of his work in to her own. She also covered when our Communications Officer was away and did whatever was asked of her. 

Vic was amazing from start to finish, but amongst her biggest achievements was her ability to take whatever the project was on and turn this around into a success. Her positive contributions to every task she took on meant she had star quality throughout. 

In summary, I was really pleased with the experience. So much so I have recommended the scheme to others in my organisation and have now recruited 2 more graduate business partners for my team. It has also been gratifying to see Victoria secure an amazing job with Plymouth City Council and we look forward to seeing her progress from here. We are pleased we were able to play a part in her employment journey. Thank you for the opportunity.” 

Employer Case Study: Devon County Council

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Name of Organisation: Devon County Council 

Description of Organisation:  

Devon County Council is one of the largest employers in the County. The County Council recently declared a climate emergency and post COVID-19 there is an urgent need to support the economic recovery. The Government continues to invest in infrastructure to stimulate activity on both these fronts with announcements for more investment in walking and cycling and in public transport. They are looking for enthusiastic people to step up to this challenge and develop, influence and shape the way people travel around Devon. 

Name of Employer: Hannah Clark 

Job Title: Transport Planning Team Leader 

Internship Scheme used:  

The Graduate Business Partnership Scheme (GBP) | Employer Engagement & Student Employment | University of Exeter 

Feedback: 

“Lauren has contributed towards researching economic benefits of active travel and provided support on public consultation activities. Lauren has also developed initial ideas towards the development of a Local Transport Plan. Lauren was an exemplar intern, and we are delighted to welcome Lauren as a full-time member of our team.

 

Student Case Study: The Miniature Pony Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Name of Student: Olivia Townend 

Degree Subject: Liberal Arts 

Job Title: Social Media and Marketing Creator 

Company Name: Miniature Pony Center 

Description of Organisation:  

The Miniature Pony Center is a farm-based tourist attraction based on the edge of the Dartmoor National Park. They predominantly have miniature Shetlands and miniature horses. As well as several other animals including mammoth donkey, heavy horses, micro pigs, sheep, goats, foals and other horse breeds. They run daily activities including pony rides, grooming and talks. Also, they offer birthday parties and pony club days and run special events during the season. 

Type of Internship:  

 Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)   

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship? 

My key responsibilities included creating content for Social Media sites such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. 

What was your biggest achievement on your internship? 

I managed to organise and facilitate a successful PR visit. 

Skills Learnt:  

  • Communication 
  • Teamwork and Collaboration 
  • Customer Service 
  • Organisation 
  • Time and Work Load Management 
  • Strategic Planning 

Attributes Developed: 

  • Confidence 
  • Creative thinking 
  • Independence 
  • Work Ethic 

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

“My internship was very useful to me, as I haven’t had many chances to try work in fields outside of hospitality. It gave me a chance to put my interest in marketing to the test so that I have a broader knowledge and experience before I begin applying for jobs as I leave university.” 

“Furthermore, I have since taken the knowledge and skills on to apply for another internship (now completed) which I gained due to the knowledge I gained from this.” 

 

Student Case Study: The Nest Southwest CIC

Name of Student: Millie Graves 

Degree Subject: BSc Management with Marketing WIE 

Job Title: Social Media Coordinator and Analyser 

Company Name: The Nest Southwest CIC 

Description of Organisation:  

The Nest Southwest is a not-for-profit, social enterprise, community interest company. It was set up in Devon by local women to support other women and girls through the major life transitions of menstruation, pregnancy, birth and menopause by providing social, emotional and informational support. The organisation is mainly volunteer led with three directors, and a team of volunteers helping run support groups.

Type of Internship:  

 Student Business Partnerships (SBPs)   

What were your key duties and responsibilities during your internship? 

My key responsibilities included managing The Nest’s social media channels (Facebook and Instagram). Also, I created an online shop to help generate some revenue for The Nest, and creating downloadable products to be sold on that shop 

What was your biggest achievement on your internship? 

My biggest achievement during my internship was creating an online shop from scratch, alongside creating downloadable products to be sold on the shop. 

Skills Learnt: (Change as appropriate) 

  • Communication 
  • Organisation 
  • Time and Work Load Management 

Attributes Developed: 

  • Confidence 
  • Motivation 
  • Independence 

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

“My internship with The Nest Southwest CIC enabled me to greatly develop my social media management skills, requiring me to plan content, create that content using Canva, and then schedule it using Meta Business Suite. Having had this experience, I now feel much more confident in applying to similar roles.

Employer Quote and Link to Case Study:

“It has been great having Yasmeen support our social media. Her eye for detail and research into topics to add to our social media pages has created a lot of useful resources we will continue to refer back to.”