This summer, seven of our students undertook a summer work experience placement within local organisations. These placements, which run in both the Easter and Summer vacation periods for first and second year students, are competitive opportunities and offer students the chance to put the skills they’ve learned during their degree programme into practice, whilst gaining valuable experience for their CV.
We caught up with Aryaman Chaturvedi, a (soon to be) third year Economics student, who completed a placement at the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA).
“Led by South Yorkshire’s Mayor, SYMCA is a formal partnership of councils that shapes policy and leads on decision-making. This is part of the government’s devolution plan, giving more power to local organisations, to aid national development. SYMCA is responsible for overlooking Sheffield, Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham.
As a student entering into final year, I have seen the rapid development that is taking place within Sheffield. I learned about the key driving factors behind this growth, one example being attracting large business and investment to the region.
I developed many hard and soft skills. I was tasked with a large data analysis project which involved using analytical software and programming languages (Excel, PowerBI and R). I presented my findings to various teams within SYMCA which provided me with a chance to develop my presenting and communicating skills. Reaching out to more experienced colleagues is something which I gradually did more as the internship progressed, initially, it seemed daunting but in reality, everyone was willing to help. Additionally, it was nice to know that my findings provided value and can aid the ongoing development in the region!”
We also sat down with a representative of SYMCA to find out more about their work with our work placement students.
“The interns' contributions were invaluable, providing us with fresh perspectives and innovative ideas that enhanced our projects. Their research, findings, and recommendations will be incorporated into the ongoing work of our analysts, extending the impact of their internship.
The interns’ performed at a graduate level, handling comparable responsibilities and gaining full access to resources. They developed into mini-experts on a different subject every week!”
We’re always thrilled to hear how our students are getting along on placements, putting their skills into practice, and we can’t wait to see what our next cohort of students get up to.