Alumni Showcase
The School of Mathematics, in partnership with the Careers Service and Development and Alumni, were excited to host the first ‘Alumni Showcase’ since 2019 at the end of September. The yearly Showcase is a fantastic opportunity for our alumni to return and share with our current students their experiences since leaving the University of Edinburgh and how this has shaped their career paths so far. We were delighted to be able to re-launch this exciting chance for both students and alumni to meet in-person.
The Showcase featured two panel events, one for Undergraduates and the other for Postgraduates. Each alumni panellist gave a summary of their current role and employer, the steps they took to get there, and how this all came from their time spent at the University of Edinburgh. As well as their student journey, panellists reflected on the transferable skills they developed throughout their degree, both in and out of lectures. One of our panellists said:
I had gone to a previous event myself when I was studying at Edinburgh so was keen to be on the other side of it. I also think a lot of people don’t know what kind of jobs or pathways there are after uni, so I wanted to add another perspective on it. I also knew, having done a graduate scheme, that people may have to apply for jobs around this time so wanted to advise people of that, to make sure they don’t miss out.
Another panellist said:
I could see that the audience was very receptive and looking for some useful advice. I was really impressed by the students taking part; immediately after the Q&A session, I was approached by a few students asking about what technology I use in my career. Everyone I spoke to was really interested, motivated and doing great things at university (organising and participating in clubs, good idea of what further study or career they’d like to go into).
During the panels, it was inspiring to hear how unique and varied life after University has been for each of our speakers, showing the breadth of opportunity available to future graduates.
After the panel, current students had the opportunity to ask our alumni some interesting questions including what entry qualifications and requirements there were for their current roles; how subject knowledge and skills are applied in the various fields our alumni are involved in; and how members of the panel found out about what they wanted to do. The evening ended with a networking reception where students, staff and alumni had a chance to network, chatting about life as a Maths student and what this means for the future.
It was great to see so many of our student body engage with this event and think about potential pathways for after graduation. Some highlights from our students:
- “Talking to Alumni about their transition from university to work and to see how their day to day is.”
- “Hearing about what graduates were up to now with their careers and being able to ask them questions, in order to decide if their field of interest appeals to me.”
- “Having a mix of public and private sector alumni……. Also not all from banks!”
We are so happy to be running this event again and hope to be able to offer more such opportunities for alumni to interact with our students, building upon the success of the ‘Alumni Showcase’ for the next academic session. Many thanks to all those that attended and to the Alumni for giving up their time to return and share their journeys and insights with current students.
This event was organised by the Student Development Team in the School of Mathematics. If you are interested in learning more about their activity, or being involved in a future showcase, get in touch at studentdevelopment@maths.ed.ac.uk.
