Queen's student wins top UK award 
A Queen’s student has been named 'Undergraduate of the Year' in a UK competition. Third-year Finance undergraduate Mark Devine (pictured centre) from north Belfast, picked up the Mathematics, Economics and Finance category award at a glittering ceremony held in London.
The coveted prize is one of the annual TARGETjobs Undergraduate of the Year awards and puts Mark in a prime position to launch a career in international trading. As part of his award, Mark will have a 12-week internship at Gazprom Marketing & Trading Ltd (GM&T), sponsors of the category.
The internship, which will begin after Mark graduates, comprises 11 weeks at GM&T head office in London and one week in the company’s Singapore branch, where he will be working as part of the Product Control team.
An award-winning student within the Queen’s School of Management, Mark has already worked for a year with financial-services giant Morgan Stanley and has secured a scholarship to sit the US-based Chartered Financial Analyst exam this summer.
A keen musician – he plays guitar, violin and piano – Mark displayed an entrepreneurial streak at an early age, setting up a string-quartet business while still a pupil at St Malachy's College in Belfast. He has, in more recent years, been a member of the Queen’s University Symphony Orchestra.
In order to win the award, the 23-year-old was subjected to a gruelling series of assessments, including individual and group challenges as well as an interview with senior management at GM&T. Resourcing Partner at GM&T, Ben Carney, said it wasn’t only Mark’s strong academic record that put him ahead of the posse, adding: “Mark displayed all the key attributes that we look for in an intern. Not only is his academic prowess impressive, but he demonstrated a real interest and a feel for the area we work in here at GM&T. He displayed an instinctive understanding of the corporate world. Although all the candidates were of a very high standard, Mark did stand out for possessing such a well-developed and balanced skill set.”
Mark’s award was one of 12 TARGETjobs awards presented by veteran broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald (pictured above right) at Canary Wharf in London in early May. The awards are organised by graduate recruitment agents, Group GTI. Each award was sponsored by a major graduate recruiter including Mars, Marks & Spencer, Nestle and Rolls-Royce.
Dr Gareth Campbell, Programme Director for the BSc Finance at Queen’s said: “Mark has been an excellent student throughout his time at Queen's, and he fully deserves this award. As well as maintaining very high academic grades, Mark has always displayed a well-rounded approach.”
Mark himself said he was very surprised to win the award. He said: “The finalists included two students from Cambridge University, one from Oxford University, one from the London School of Economics. The standard was very high so I was completely stunned.
“But I’m very excited by the internship. GM&T is an exciting company as it’s still quite young but it’s rapidly expanding. I’m hoping the internship may lead to further opportunities.”
For further information contact Queen’s University Communications Office, Tel: +44 (0)28 9097 3087 email: comms.office@qub.ac.uk
Photo caption: Alistair Milnes, Acting Director of Global HR at Gazprom (left), with Mark Devine and Sir Trevor McDonald
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