Newbury graduate secures place with telecoms giant
A Newbury student is seeing the fruits of her labours at Southampton Solent University pay off, as she is offered a place on the graduate programme of one of the world’s most innovative companies.
Katie Pontin (22) who was awarded a first class honours degree in BSc (Hons) Business Information Systems this summer, has been snapped up by communication giants Vodafone.
Gaining a place on Vodafone’s Discover Technology Graduate programme is a dream come true for tech-lover Katie: “My interest started at secondary school where I discovered a natural passion for technology and the way it is continually evolving,”
The former Park House Secondary School student credits her decision to undertake a placement year in the industry while studying for her degree, with helping her get a place on the prestigious graduate programme.
“I had the opportunity to work as a Business Analyst at GradWeb, a company providing customizable web-based software designed to meet the specific graduate recruitment needs of employers and blue chip companies. My lecturer strongly recommended this opportunity to me and I am really thankful that I followed her advice.”
Katie is looking forward to starting the programme this September. Designed to advance the future front-runners of one of the world's top ten businesses, she will start out working on the shop floor, before moving onto a further four placements within the areas that most interest her.
Looking to the future, Katie says, “My main aim is to have a career that I really enjoy. Maybe becoming a Project Manager and managing a team of my own one day, who knows?”
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT THE MEDIA OFFICE ON 023 8201 3040 or press.office@solent.ac.uk
About Southampton Solent University
Southampton Solent University offers more than 19,000 students over 200 qualifications ranging from HND to PhD, in subjects such as maritime education and training, fashion and design, media and television, music, health, sport and leisure, business, IT and technology. The University was awarded the 2013 Quality Assurance kitemark for quality and standards of teaching and learning. Solent was voted one of the most creative universities in the UK in a Which? University 2014 poll of students. Solent Business School has been awarded the Small Business Charter Award, which is supported by the Association of Business Schools and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and ‘gold approval’ by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
