Internship turns into full-time position for Edinburgh Napier alumna

A recent Edinburgh Napier graduate has had her excellent internship work recognised with a leading student impact award.

Caroline Tocher – who first graduated in 2018 with a degree in International Festival and Event Management before graduating in October this year with a Masters in Business Management with Entrepreneurship – recently undertook an internship at Business Fives, a company which runs corporate sports events with a charitable impact.

Half funded by Santander Universities – the university division of the world-leading bank – and half by the company itself, the 10-week internship was sourced by Caroline through a networking event held by Edinburgh Napier’s business incubator Bright Red Triangle and saw her undertake a range of marketing and sales activities for the corporate sports events business.

Caroline excelled so much during the internship that she has now taken up a full-time position with the business.

However, her success doesn’t stop there after she took home the Student Intern of the Year prize at the recent Student Impact Awards hosted by Santander Universities in London.

Created by Santander Universities, the Student Impact Awards recognise and celebrate student achievement within two areas that it’s funding supports – employability and education.

The competition rewards and celebrates students who can demonstrate the positive impact they have made through the support of Santander.

Caroline – who is from Perth originally – was delighted to receive the award from Matthew Hutnell, Director of Santander Universities and Manroop Khela, Chief Transformation Officer at Santander UK.

She said: “I really went into the internship with two aims – to amass new skills and experience to improve my employability alongside completing my Masters and to use the internship in the view that I’d like to be my own boss one day and run my own company.

“The internship at Business Fives allowed me to achieve new skills, build my professional network and really make an impact in the company and I’m delighted to have been given a chance to continue the work I started with a full-time position.

“To be recognised as Intern of the Year was fantastic and I can’t thank Santander Universities enough for its support in helping the internship happen.”

This year saw Edinburgh Napier’s relationship with Santander Universities reach its 10^th year, with the total funding received from the organisation crossing the £1million mark.

The funding provided by the bank goes towards a range of scholarships, funding and entrepreneurship support alongside supporting the University’s widening participation commitment.

More details on the support that the University receives from the world-leading bank can be found here.