Bournemouth University (BU) held a celebratory event to recognise the achievement of students from the Faculty of Media and Communication on completing their placements.
Employers, students, academics and other key BU staff were all invited to the event to celebrate the experiences and successes of final year students that have returned from their work placement.
The evening was celebrating all BA Marketing Communications, BA Advertising, BA Public Relations and BA Politics students.
Throughout the evening, posters that students had created to showcase their placements were displayed and awards were given to the best ones from each course.
Additionally, an overall placement award was given to Oliver Sissons, a BA (Hons) Public Relations student who worked for the company allbranded.
Penny Syddall, from Dorset County Council, attended the event as an employer. Penny runs the communications for a programme called Superfast Dorset.
Over the last four years, the Superfast Dorset programme has had five BU placement students.
Penny said: “Once they’ve got the hang of it, they contribute enormously and keep the ideas fresh. Having placement students is something we’d love to continue as long as the programme runs.”
Johnathan Tetsill, CEO of production company Feedback Films in London, also attended the event.
He said: “Over the last 5 years, we’ve taken quite a lot of Bournemouth students. Lauren, who we took over four months during the summer period, did really well.
“Jobs are very few and far between unless you have experience and a placement is very, very good.”
Iona Kelly, a BA (Hons) Marketing Communications student, landed her placement with the global company Converse.
Iona said: “I learnt a lot about working in a fast-paced environment. Because Converse is a global team, it was really interesting to see how all of the departments and teams round the world come together to make an integrated campaign.”
“In applying my placement to my final year, I’ve learnt a lot about organisation as well as commitment. Taking a year out has really shown me where I want to go and what I need to do to get there.”
Natalie Moseley, also a BA (Hons) Marketing Communications student, did her placement as the Marketing Analyst and Support Intern for Intel.
Natalie said: “It was really interesting seeing a different aspect of Intel that I didn’t know about. I worked with social media, with the hosting of webinars, a lot of data and tracking.
“Before my placement, I wouldn’t have thought I’d want to do something in that area – I’d 100% recommend doing a placement.”
Both Iona and Natalie also completed the CIM certificate in professional marketing whilst on placement.
The evening included a talk from Annie Hall, a BU graduate who now works for Salad Creative. Annie spoke to students about her placement experience and the opportunities it opened up for her.
The event also involved hearing from students Geneva Guerrieri, Michael Faucher-Folie, Dominic Stephens and Tiajina Amayo who worked for companies such as HBO and the RNLI during their placements.
Melanie Gray, Head of Education in the Corporate Marketing Communications department and organiser of the event, said: “We wanted to put on this celebration event to congratulate and celebrate the success of all our level 6 students coming back from placement, but also to inspire those who are now looking and applying for placements.”
To find out more about placements at BU visit the Placement pages
