We had a chat with Biomedical Engineering student, Ateff, to hear about what life is like as a Student Rep at Kent, and how he found his internship at Kent & Canterbury Hospital..
Why did you choose Kent?
I always wanted to study in the countryside, and Kent allowed me to explore the course I liked and live where I love.
How did you become a Student Rep, and why?
Initially, I stepped up to become rep student to mention in my CV but after that, I realised there’s more to being student voice rep. I had to reflect the ideas and issues of the students and actually my points we appreciated. Nevertheless I wanted to development decision making skills, therefore I joined the academic misconduct panel.
What have you worked on while in the role?
During the past three years that I have been a student rep, I have been honest and tried to reflect on the pros and cons of the course, which led to the change of programs for next year’s students the year, the 2021 cohort, such as enquiring about attending the face-to-face labs in the pandemic for the first two years of the program and kindly asking the lab technicians to provide students extra support for the electronic part of the project during the pandemic
Where was your internship and how did you get it?
I’m thankful that I had the chance to be a biomedical engineering intern at the medical physics department at Kent & Canterbury hospital. In my first year, we had a guest lecture named Ladan Najafi who is head of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. By the end of second year I have sent her message on LinkedIn and later on she kindly offered me an internship.
What was the best part of your internship?
Working with clinical engineers and therapists and been able to joining them for visiting patients.
What are your ambitions after your degree, and how are your internship and Student Rep role helping to achieve them?
My ambition is to help others, whether being part of the NHS or working in the industry. This is my key aim. Having a decent internship or being a student voice rep gave me an insight into what is real-world look like after university. These opportunities pushed me further from my comfort zone in order to get closer to my goals.
What are your favourite parts of Canterbury?
Canterbury is beautiful. It is hard to name one place but I would say Curzon cinema and Fringe + Ginge cafe are my favourites places to go in Canterbury. Also watching the sunset from the beaches around Canterbury are incredible.