15 March 2018

Engaging with the School’s alumni network can lead to valuable career opportunities for students. This was clearly demonstrated on the ‘Technology and Innovation’ engagement trek to Dublin in February, with many of the company visits being hosted by alumni who had themselves secured their roles through previous treks.
Dublin Trek Group at Murex

A group of both postgraduate and undergraduate students were selected to attend the three-day visit to the city. First stop on the trek was Murex Advanced Technologies where students were welcomed by Thomas Koch (MSc Banking and Risk 2016) and Andrea Barker (MBA 2012). Thomas secured the role as a result of making connections when he attended the trek himself during his MSc studies. Students had the chance to network with a number of key staff from Murex over a networking lunch.

The following day, students visited Accenture’s global innovation centre, The Dock, where company representatives included Elizabeth Harris (MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation 2017) who secured her role there following the visit to the company on last year’s trek. Joined by Scott Nowson (University of Edinburgh Informatics alumnus) and Richard McNiff, they presented a range of cutting-edge projects to the students.

The third company visit facilitated by alumni was IDA Ireland. Students learnt more about how the country attracts investment and the steps it takes to retain investment. Currently on the IDA graduate scheme, Mariana Vallejo Ramirez (MSc International Business and Emerging Markets 2017) secured her role after having been introduced to the scheme through a fellow student who attended the trek last year.

Following a presentation by the VP of Content, Consumer and Business Services, Mariana gave students an insight into her day-to-day activities and about the application process. She is currently half way through her first rotation on the three-year graduate scheme which involves nine-month rotations around different departments including one posting overseas.

Other company visits during the trek included the innovative Bank of Ireland Workbench, where co-working space is provided to connect entrepreneurs, the bank branch and the local community. Plus the students had the chance to visit the famous Guinness Storehouse.

Dublin is just one of the many treks organised for Business School students to learn more about a particular industry or investigate a particular theme, which supports the ongoing professional development and network building for students. Destinations in the coming months include China, Colombia and Germany.

If you are interested in finding out more about supporting our students through company engagement, please email us on alumni@business-school.ed.ac.uk.