UKís top Engineering Undergraduate announced at TARGETjobs awards

Tom Astley, a student at the University of Warwick, has been named the Engineering Undergraduate of the Year, at the TARGETjobs National Graduate Recruitment Awards, which took place last night. The Award, run in association with npower, was launched to find Britainís most promising engineer and attracted entries from over 200 talented undergraduates.

Tom, a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate in his penultimate year, impressed the judges with his performance in the online technical test, developed by the Institute of Engineering and Technology, and competency-based telephone interview with npower, which assessed his non-technical skills such as communications. As well as receiving the impressive accolade, he has also won a 3,000 prize.

ìItís an honour to be recognised for this awardî, comments Tom Astley. ìI am having a brilliant time studying for my degree and cannot wait to pursue a career in engineering. Itís great to see more and more young people becoming interested in engineering as itís a fantastic subject and thereís just so much choice. Energy looks like a really exciting industry to tackle, but for now Iím still keeping my options open.î

Louis Koonjean, RWE npowerís Graduate Recruitment Manager said: ìTom showed exceptional qualities to beat a strong group of finalists. We are delighted to be contributing towards the cost of his final year of studies and believe he is going to be an exceptional engineer in his future career.î

Tom battled it out with nine other finalists from Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Queens University Belfast, Sheffield, Strathclyde and Southampton Universities, all well recognised for their engineering departments. A range of engineering courses were represented, including chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering.

Chris Phillips, publishing director at Group GTI, the organisers of the TARGETjobs Awards, comments: ìTARGETjobs would like to congratulate Tom and all the nominees on their fantastic achievements. With the skills shortages that are currently affecting engineering and manufacturing industries, it is fantastic to see so many talented young engineers coming through university. They are all destined for extremely bright futures.î

The TARGETjobs National Graduate Recruitment Awards are the largest student awards in the world. The winners were announced at Grosvenor House in Mayfair, London, on May 21st. The gala event attracted an audience of 800 and the awards were presented by popular comedian Alan Carr.