Stuart takes a STEP up the career ladder

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As a computer science student, 20-year-old Stuart Roberts from COGS knew exactly where to look when he decided to find a summer job in line with his studies.

Using the Internet, he found information about the Shell Technology Enterprise Programme (STEP), a national scheme that gives more than 1,500 undergraduates eight weeks' work experience with small and medium-sized businesses.

Stuart was offered a work placement at the Talking Newspaper Association in Heathfield, only six miles from his Uckfield home. The placement and his subsequent written report were so successful that Stuart went on to win a STEP prize for being one of the 'Most Enterprising Students' in the Sussex area.

Stuart's brief was to design and build two websites for the Talking Newspaper Association (TNAUK), a registered charity that provides newspapers and magazines on audio tape, computer disk, email and CD-ROM for visually impaired and disabled people.

There were a number of specific requirements, principally that the sites could be navigated by blind and partially sighted users. "The project was challenging as I had to understand my target audience, who would be receiving the information predominantly by sound rather than by sight," recalls Stuart.

"There were a host of challenges and problems throughout the project," says the charity's chief executive, Tim McDonald: "It was Stuart's quiet confidence that impressed most people. There were times, I am sure, when he did feel under pressure, especially when he found himself on the receiving end of conflicting requests and requirements. But his response was always cool and measured and he sought clarification wherever there was doubt or ambiguity. He certainly never lost interest or commitment."

The Talking Newspaper Association has received positive feedback on the sites that Stuart created (see www.tnauk.org.uk). Tim McDonald says: "We now have two websites that are models of their kind and are extremely important tools in helping us to raise our profile."

Although Stuart returns to his studies next week, the charity has asked him to return on a part-time basis as webmaster, to maintain the sites. Tim McDonald says, "I have just one regret - that I am not able to employ Stuart right now on a full-time basis."

At the end of the summer, all STEP students produce a written placement report and present the results to a panel of judges, who look for evidence that each project achieved its intended outcomes, brought about change in the company, and gave the student experience that he or she would not otherwise have gained.

Stuart's involvement in the STEP scheme expanded his knowledge of computer programming and developed his communication and time-management skills. "It has taught me a great deal about how a business works," he says. "I could only get this sort of experience from being in a working environment."

The Registrar & Secretary, Neil Gershon, was in the audience at Pelham House, Lewes, as Stuart and the other six entrants from the University of Sussex presented their work to the judges last month. "The projects themselves were interesting and demonstrated how much students can achieve when given the opportunity," Neil says.