Building Services and Sustainable Engineering graduate, Sean Duffy, chose the degree apprenticeship route in order to pursue his overall aim of becoming an ACIBSE IEng qualified engineer.
Working at Manchester-based Hannan Associates, a leading engineering consultancy firm, Sean transferred to the University of Central Lancashire Degree Apprenticeship from another University programme as he felt it better suited his career plans. The apprenticeship ran alongside the University degree, allowing him to retain all the benefits of being in part-time education whilst his company experienced a reduction in tuition fees.
Based at UCLan’s Preston Campus, which now includes the multi-million-pound Engineering Innovation Centre, Sean enjoyed learning about the different aspects and specialisms of Building Services, noting the usefulness of UCLan’s Library and laboratory facilities throughout his studies. Although he sometimes found balancing his time to meet both work and course deadlines a challenge, Sean felt supported at UCLan, having regular meetings with his office mentor and degree apprentice assessor to ensure he was making progress on building a portfolio of evidence.
When asked to sum up his experience at UCLan, Sean said: “Help was always available if I needed it and the facilities were generally good. The trips abroad were also a big bonus!”
Sean is now planning on furthering his existing knowledge of building services both in and out of the office using the skills he learned at UCLan. His long-term plan is to advance his career to a managerial role with the hope of becoming a Chartered Engineer in the future.