Final year BA (Hons) Interactive Arts student Aliyah Hussain has joined Damien Hurst and Tracey Emin in having her artwork exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Aliyah achieved the opportunity as a finalist in the Google Photography Prize, selected from over 3,500 entries from 82 countries.

‘A lot of my work explores urban areas and the photos were a comment on community pride in Blackburn, where I’m originally from.’ says Aliyah, who plans to continue her collaboration with fellow artist Emily Deyn and become a more established artist.

BSc (Hons) Business Information Technology graduates Oliver Davies and Daria Dimitriu excelled on their year-long placements while studying for their degrees at MMU. Oliver and Daria defied the recession following graduation, landing internships on Wall Street, working for business analysts JP Morgan Chase, a leading global financial services firm.

‘I’m certain I got the job thanks to the experience I got on my industrial placement. A good degree is a prerequisite so I needed something else to stand out from the crowd and the placement did that for me.’ says Oliver.

Dominic Green recently graduated from BSc (Hons) Computer Science at MMU. During his time here, Dominic devised a series of games with London student Ben Nunney, for a competition to ‘imagine a world where technology enables a sustainable environment’. The duo made it through to the World Final of the competition in Paris with 120 teams from around the world.

‘Our competition entry was really relevant for youngsters.’ says Dominic. ‘There’s no point telling kids how many kilowatt hours they’ve saved. Taking part was tough but it was superb preparation for what I want to do which is become a software developer.’ Dominic is well on his way and landed a full-time job with Microsoft before he graduated.

Heather Carter, BSc (Hons) Physical Geography student, completed her placement with the Environment Agency, who were judged runner up out of 200 placement opportunities in the UK for budding scientists. Heather contributed to flood risk assessments, working with contractors out in the field across the region.

‘Each visit was like a mini field trip, showing everything I learnt in lectures in a real life situation. Working with the Environment Agency has given me more focus and helped me find the way to a good job in an environmental science field.’ said Heather.

BA (Hons) Hospitality and Tourism student Julfa Begum ran a new coffee bar on the MMU Hollings campus for her placement year, with support from her placement mentor, the Faculty Dean.

‘I did my research and came up with a targeted menu of coffees, chocolates, cereal bars, soups and snacks. We were really busy and took up to £450 on a good day. It was a great experience and I now have an insight into running my own business.’

Zeshan Zamir followed up his degree, BSc (Hons) Psychology at MMU, with a PGCE and immediately started work as a maths teacher at Trinity Church of England high School in Manchester.

‘I was always interested in studying psychology, it has helped me in so many ways. I’m now working at a comprehensive school in the heart of Manchester and looking forward to teaching my own classes, seeing kids develop and being a role model for pupils.’ says Zeshan.

20 year-old BA (Hons) Politics student, Chris France, was elected as the youngest ever town hall politician for Chorley Council.

Chris is looking forward to taking decisions which affect the local economy and says, ‘My course at MMU was excellent preparation for my elected role. I liaise with government agencies over town planning and other issues, a lot of which I covered on my course, so that is really helpful.’