An Aberdeen man who was the first of his family to go to university has graduated from RGU with a prestigious prize for his final-year project.
Matthew Craig finished school and went on to achieve a HND from Nescol in mechanical engineering. Through the degree link programme he applied to study at RGU and gained direct entry into third year.
The 24-year-old is the first member of his family to go to university, which is something he never expected to do, and now he is graduating with a MEng in Mechanical Engineering.
He is incredibly proud of his achievement, especially after winning an award for his dissertation.
He said: “The most memorable moment for me personally was being awarded the IMechE Project Prize for my individual thesis in fourth year.
“Receiving this award from an institution which represents over 120,000 mechanical engineers from around the world was obviously a huge personal achievement for me.”
There is only one prize for each institution, meaning that Mr Craig’s thesis was considered the best from all the engineering courses this year.
‘If you put in the effort you get rewarded for it’
Mr Craig decided to study at RGU because it was close to home and because of its graduate employment rate.
He believes that if you put the effort in you get rewarded for it. After receiving the prize for his thesis he had a paper published in an engineering journal.
The graduate said: “It was pretty pleasing to know that academics in the field thought that my work was good enough quality to publish.”
However, the path to success has not always been easy as the pandemic brought challenges to his learning experience.
He commented: “Studying during the pandemic wasn’t easy and I especially found it difficult maintaining concentration and application whilst working from home.
“A good piece of advice is to plan ahead, perhaps more than ever, and to make sure you have an idea of which tasks need done on a day-to-day basis.”
Now, Mr Craig is hopeful about the future and wants to pursue a career as a project engineer or mechanical engineer.
He added: “RGU has enabled me to enhance my development as an engineer in many ways which perhaps cannot not fully be expressed through the award I have gained.”
To see the Robert Gordon Graduation list 2021, click here.