Just a few words used by employers to describe final-year students who have returned to DMU after a placement year.
Every year students from each of our faculties take up the opportunity to spend a year in industry, gaining valuable work experience and learning key skills for their career.
Students return with more understanding of what they want to do in their career, having made key contacts and joined networks, and with a higher likelihood of achieving top grades in their final year.
Our Student Placement Celebration last term saluted those returning students and what they had achieved, with twelve winning awards.
We’ve assembled a few accolades from employers about just some of our wonderful winners. No wonder DMU was voted best uni in the country for work experience last year!
Maraz Balayet, TAC
Leicester City Council
Maraz had a long-term impact on our organisation and drew praise from senior leaders. He contributing to EDI initiatives, dramatically increased attendance at a Health and Wellbeing event and took on tasks usually assigned to more senior colleagues. It was clear to our team that Maraz is passionate about making a difference for colleagues.
Shaun Goodwin, TAC
BAE Systems
Shaun performed at a consistently high level across all areas of the business. He applied his knowledge to new software and technically obtuse areas, allowing him to support the training of more experienced colleagues. His genuine interest in the aerodynamics work, and his communications skills, ensured he had a lasting impact on the business.
Celina Czarnecka, HLS
DMU
Celina’s dedication went far beyond the remit of her role, providing support to enable the delivery of multiple research projects and university events. She demonstrated exceptional proactivity and resilience, successfully recruiting local faith leaders for a research project of which she is now a co-author. Her work ethic, whether recruiting for events or presenting at conferences, has empowered staff and students across the university.
Aaliyah Patel, HLS
University Hospitals of Leicester Trust
Aaliyah’s performance in her role was exceptional. She consistently went above and beyond, independently conducting a full audit which contributed to raised standards within the lab. Demonstrating integrity and accountability, she actively sought and applied feedback to improve her work, becoming a reliable and valuable team member who embodied our core values.
Amanpreet Kaur, BAL
DMU
Amanpreet joined our team at an extremely busy time, but slotted in straightaway. She got ‘stuck in’ to the planning of our major Autumn Faculty conference, and excelled in co-organising and delivering a LinkedIn session for students. Amanpreet has an amazing can-do attitude and if they she doesn’t know how to do something, she will find out. She was a pleasure to be around and we would employ her without hesitation in the future!
Aisha Tahir, BAL
Druck (Baker Hughes)
Aisha performed beyond her regular responsibilities, working on commercial analytics to identify new customer trends, analysing travel spend and identifying productivity metrics. She developed a new engineering spend report which will be used crossfunctionally to make business critical decisions. Her contribution to the team and self-improvement was very instrumental and a pleasure to witness.
Maddie Bowness, TAC
Victoria’s Secret
During her time with us, Maddie consistently demonstrated a rare blend of creative vision, detailed organisation and collaborative spirit that made a noticeable impact on our team. I've truly never had an intern or student placement as amazing as her!
Find out more about placements and careers on our website.
Posted on Monday 26 January 2026