Inspiring Scotland’s future business leaders

Inspiring Scotland’s future business leaders

How a GlobalScot company placement has helped to develop valuable business skills

The programme is a Scottish Enterprise initiative, backed and supported by Scotland’s International Advisory Board and the GlobalScot Network. It aims to inspire the next generation of Scottish business leaders with confidence, skills and the capacity to succeed.

During the summer of 2008, Elaine Mackie, a third-year engineering student from the University of Strathclyde, spent eight weeks working for GlobalScot company, Rolls-Royce, in Indianapolis, Indiana. She was one of twenty eight Scottish students selected to take part in Saltire Foundation placements and found the experience immensely valuable.

Elaine was assigned to the Service Engineering department of Rolls-Royce, working as part of the team on a range of tasks. Her most practical project involved the analysis of case studies relating to aero engine repairs.

"It was basically about the lifetime of parts, helping to work out the best times for replacement, as replacing a part costs much less than investigating and repairing a fault."

The placement gave Elaine good practice in report writing techniques and presentation skills. She also designed and processed a questionnaire to help identify learning gaps within the team.

"Working for Rolls-Royce was a great opportunity. I was given a variety of interesting assignments and everyone made an effort to provide me with structured learning time. It’s so rare for undergraduates to get international business experience. I’ve had a better placement than any other student in my year and I’ve now applied for the Rolls- Royce graduate scheme."

The number of students benefiting from the Saltire Foundation Undergraduate Internship Programme has almost doubled. During summer 2009, forty Scottish students will undertake placements with leading global organisations. For all of them, it will prove the business opportunity of a lifetime.