Student life in Bangor

Stefan’s degree helps him reach for the skies!

Electronic Engineering graduate Stefan Roberts from Old Colwyn has won a place on a four year graduate placement scheme with multinational corporation, Thales. Stefan will be working as a Systems Engineer in the company’s Aerospace Division, working on a number of projects, from radar to flight simulators.

Stefan, 23, did not follow the traditional route into higher education. He worked in several jobs before realising that Electronic Engineering was the career for him.

Stefan explained, “I left school with little appetite and little understanding of what industry I wanted to work in. Leaving school, I naively believed that it wasn’t so difficult in the ‘real’ world to progress to something worthwhile.

“I tried many different career paths, from being a soldier to plastering, but none of them felt right. After studying a BTEC National in Electrical/Electronic Engineering I suddenly become excited about the industry and realised that I had a passion for the subject material.

“I started looking at universities and realised that in order to get there I needed to up my game and work harder, so I effectively did two years’ work in a year and achieved the grades to gain entry to the four year Masters course in Bangor University. For my hard work I was named my course’s ‘Engineer of the Year.’”

Stefan also claimed several prizes during his studies at Bangor. For the first three years of his degree he was the recipient of the Draper’s Bursary, which is a £1,000 prize given for excellent academic performance. He won two prizes in his second year for his performance in a mathematics and physics subject, and on his graduation scooped the title of ‘Best final year student on an Institute of Engineering and Technology accredited course.’ Stefan said, “It’s brilliant that an external institution recognises the hard work that I put into my degree. I didn’t take the usual path of coming to university straight from school, but I think that this gave me the maturity to reach my potential at Bangor.

“I came to Bangor because it was a high ranking university department in the Guardian league tables, it was a nice distance from home and I was excited about the information given on the open day.

“I studied a Master of Engineering four year undergraduate degree and I’m so glad I stayed for the final year because it really helped build my team working skills. The course material was always a little challenging, but never beyond the grasp of students who are prepared to put the work in.

“I’m excited, although a little nervous, to be moving onto the next phase in my life and so glad the hard work paid dividend.”