Industrial Placement Student Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement with GSK, although have found aspects of the placement challenging at times.

I have felt very valued motivated to achieve my full potential throughout my time at GSK. I think that the encouragement and support of various mentors within our department has contributed to this.

Although my supervisor has given me a lot responsibility to plan and organise my own work, they have helped me immensely through providing the required training, always being open to help discuss and suggest potential ideas and regularly catching-up on how things are progressing.

I rarely had to think of something to do at any point during the day while I was on placement.

I was given most of the responsibility of planning, organising and carrying out my work for a considerable period of my placement. This helped me learn a lot of new skills and gain confidence through challenging me in many different areas of science, although I took comfort in knowing that my supervisor was there if I had any questions or wasn't sure about something.

I feel that the interpersonal and organisational skills, as well as the lab-based skills, that I have learnt and built upon this year will be invaluable as I begin and progress through working life.

The atmosphere in our office is a good balance between hard-working and cheery, with everyone taking an interest in what each other are doing with regard to work but also outside of work.

With the occasional glitch, the placement ran smoothly overall.

Within our department, our mentors were always happy to help and provide the relevant training that we needed. We were also given the opportunity to attend seminars on-site held by professionals from within and outwith the company.

There seems to be a variety of roles and schemes available to become involved with once the appropriate qualifications have been obtained.

There was a large student community and events were held throughout the year just for the students. The department that I worked in was also sociable with monthly social nights being organised and special occasions, such as Christmas or medicine developments, being celebrated.

The cost of living and socialising in the area was probably around average.

There was lots of choices of restaurants and a few recreational activates, such as the cinema and bowling. There were also a couple of bars/clubs.

There are many local sports clubs and groups that could get involved in.