A HARD-WORKING student from Brooke has secured himself a place in a national final for work he has undertaken during his gap year.

Jonathan Wilde, of High Green, has been working with global company Edwards Vacuum Ltd on 'The Year in Industry' programme and by winning the regional finals of the programme's awards, he has scooped a place in the overall finals in London.

He said: 'I'm really excited and pleased to have had my work recognised.'

'The Year in Industry' provides students with a year away from their studies, either as a gap year or a sandwich year, during which they gain work experience by working on science, technology, business or engineering projects with established companies.

'I applied to 'The Year in Industry' as a gap year student and it has been really valuable,' Mr Wilde added.

'I have particularly enjoyed having specific project responsibilities that have involved me in working with teams and honing my presentation and time management skills. Working on real projects in a real industry environment has been great and I would recommend anyone to consider taking this option for a year out.

'I think it has given me a real career advantage over others of my own age because of the experience and the skills I have gained.'

Mr Wilde, who will be studying Mechanical Engineering at Brunel University this year, worked on a number of different projects during his gap year. Major projects included developing a catalogue of spare parts to help service engineers efficiently resolve problems and single-handedly compiling comprehensive spares catalogues. This meant that Edwards' field engineers could quickly and easily identify spares required.

His work has been met with such a positive response, that the management team at Edwards are now planning a similar activity on further products.

His supervisor Gareth Baines, product data management team leader at Edwards, said: 'The delivery of a technically challenging project against tight timescales requires tenacity, communication and planning skills, all of which Jonathan has demonstrated to a surprisingly high level'.

Chris Ward, south east regional director for education charity EDT, who run the programme, said: 'Every year we place hundreds of students with companies for this career-defining experience and Jonathan has proved himself to be an outstanding participant.'

The national finals take place in London on Monday.

• For more information on 'The Year in Industry' visit www.yini.org.uk or email info@yini.org.uk.