Alumni volunteers support college events

The Student Experience & Employability team hosted a series of events for undergraduate students in each discipline. Alumni spoke to students about their time at university, current job role and career path since graduating from Exeter providing students with a valuable insight into the variety of career options available to them with their degrees. The team also worked closely with alumni to provide students with information on specific career fields such as the motor industry and intellectual property.

In one recent event Alumnus Patrick McCall, Senior Managing Director of the Virgin Group and Chair of Virgin Galactic, arranged for six senior members of Virgin Galactic staff including Chief Test Pilot, Dave Mackay, to take part in a live online web event where students were able to put their questions to the Virgin team. This exciting and unique opportunity received great feedback from the students who attended.

In January the college also hosted a Women in STEM event for fifty Year 10-12 girls from schools across the South West. The event included presentations, workshops and a panel event where alumni Alexandra Jellicoe (Honorary Doctorate of Engineering, 2013) and Celia Butler (PhD physics, 2012) gave a fantastic insight into a career in science.

Alumni also supported events at our Penryn campus. Geology graduates Charlie Rideout (Tunnel Shift Engineer, Balfour Beatty plc) and Syrie Crouch (VP Development, Upstream Operated, Shell) both recently gave careers talks and Mining Engineering alumni Andy Raine and Joshua Howarth (J. Murphy and Sons) hosted a ‘Pie and Pasty’ employability event for students.

We’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who volunteered their time to speak at events so far this year; we have received really positive feedback from those who attended. If you would like speak at a future event about your career journey to date and offer advice to students, please get in touch with Alumni Engagement Officer, Rose Gater at r.gater@exeter.ac.uk or alternatively check out our other volunteering opportunities online here.