Catalyst students top of the class

Two students from Midlands universities have won major prizes for work produced during industrial placement years with Catalyst.

Simon Patterson, a business management student at Birmingham University was awarded the prize for best performance in a year in industry for his time with Catalyst in 2008 and 2009. His fellow researcher during their time at Catalyst, Hannah Thakhrah from Aston Business School meanwhile has been selected to attend the Beta Gamma Sigma Student Leadership Forum in Florida in summer 2010, which brings together student members from colleges and universities across the world to improve and develop their leadership skills.

Catalyst has a strong belief in the mutual benefits of an industrial placement and employs a number of students each year within its research team. Mark Wilson, partner at Catalyst responsible for the programme commented:

“I am delighted that Hannah and Simon have been rewarded for their hard work during their time with us. Our programme is designed to give the students a varied experience of our business and the opportunity to see at first hand the impact of the work they do for our clients. From day one our students are part of the team and contribute to our business. All our previous students have found the year very beneficial in both their personal development and when entering the job market. We have been so impressed with a number of our previous students that we offered jobs to them following graduation and they are now pursuing their career with Catalyst.”