Summer Institute 2019
Following on from the success of last year, the Tech Allies Network have taken another group of first year university students through our intense program — Summer Institute.
The purpose
One purpose of the program is to introduce students to the variety of careers within technology across different industries so they can make informed decisions about their careers. Another purpose is to help build a solid foundation of hard and soft skills to help them fulfil their potential and build up their confidence.
The how
To achieve our purpose, the program this year consisted of:
- A two week design sprint- where students used the tools and processes that industry uses to come up with a solution to a challenge statement, following the Google Ventures design sprint methodology.
- Hard and soft skill masterclasses- a series of masterclasses run by industry professionals to educate on chatbots, machine learning, presentation skills, agile, employability etc.
- Company insights- while being hosted at 6 companies, students gained an insight into what each company does, what types of job roles there are and what opportunities are available for students.
The cohort
16 students from 9 universities where represented in the program from a range of degree backgrounds:
- Aran Parmar| University of Hertfordshire
- Indra Caine| University of East London
- Juhi Sharma| University of West London
- Lara Pearson| Loughborough
- Mohammed Hussain Adam| University of East London
- Nowman Islam| University of West London
- Oluwaseun Paul Akano| University of Leeds
- Ouninioluwa Rotimi| University of East London
- Pratham Jadeja| Loughborough
- Rane Masarwy| University of East London
- Samuel Kwame Adjei| University of the West of England
- Sharif Choudhury| Queen Mary University of London
- Sofia Bhatty| Queen Mary University of London
- Stuti Saxena| Queen Mary University of London
- Thomas Le Menestrel| UCL
- William Cairns| Northumbria University
Final presentations:
Each team had to present their solution to an audience at the end of the week which articulated their challenge statement, solution and business model. Our amazing judges, Mitesh Soni, Clare Whitehead, Jon Carman and Alex Dalley made it extra difficult for the students by asking some challenging questions and keeping them on their toes!
Our hosts
Throughout the 2 weeks the students where hosted by 6 companies and 2 universities:
- Finastra
- IBM
- Rise, created by Barclays
- GSK
- ViiV Healthcare
- Salesforce
- UCL
- Queen Mary University of London
The organisers:
Summer Institute wouldn’t be possible without the volunteers from the Tech Allies Network. This year the following where involved:
- Ryan Clifford
- David Sint
- Sanaya Khambatta
- Liam Jack
- Jon Carman
- Yasmin Martin
- Alex Dalley
Summer Institute will return next year so 👀 out!
