Winners : Gurit

Judges Special Interest

Gurit is a manufacturer of advanced composites, employing 3-4 students each summer on 12 week placements.

Each summer placement at Gurit is unique. Once the student has been offered a position, they are supplied with a summary of the project brief – allowing them to understand in advance what the project entails and how it will benefit the business. This allows students to do any reading prior to the placement commencing as students are required to apply theories from their studies to complete the proposed project.

The placement itself allows students to grow and develop by giving them the freedom to take a project brief, conduct their own experiments and present their results to the business with an emphasis on its commercial impact.

Each student is assigned a mentor for the duration of their placement. For some mentors this is their first supervisory role and both management and communication skills of the mentor are enhanced through this exercise.

The judges wanted to recognise this company at the awards as they were impressed that given the challenging geographical position of the company on the Isle of Wight, the company had made special efforts to develop a placement programme to attract and retain talent in a specialist industry.

Key Success Factors

• Students are given the opportunity to complete a high value, business focused business project
• Placement students learn project management skills and the importance of time management
• Students are coached and mentored throughout their experience

"The value that students add to the Gurit team is not only beneficial to them during their undergraduate studies, but also of huge benefit to us as an organisation.” Tracy Foster, Recruitment Co-ordinator, Gurit.