Luke Andrews acknowledges his good fortune in landing a scholarship with his dream employer in just the second year of his undergraduate degree. 

The Engineering student has won a UK Electronics Skills Foundation scholarship which will see him placed with Cambridge-based ARM, the semiconductor and software design company whose products are in many digital products like smartphones, computers, and televisions. Oren Levene, a first-year undergraduate, has also earned a scholarship with UKESF-Arm.

“If I’m honest, it’s the company I’ve wanted to work for since I knew they existed,” Luke says. “It’s been my ambition to get a job there since I was pretty young, so to be able to combine that with ESF is pretty incredible.”

ESF is a charity with initiatives to encourage young people to study electronics and work in the sector, with partnerships in industry.

Luke, pictured, will benefit from an annual bursary, paid summer vacation internships with ARM and a mentor within the company, among other things, while networking with other ESF scholars, and promoting the schemes with outreach work.

He adds: “The programme is for the entire duration of my degree; at least until July 2023. The ideal situation will then be I get a graduate role at ARM.”

There is a slight sense of trepidation in that Luke’s career path is now mapped out before him, but he would urge other Engineering students to consider ESF.

He says: “I applied to 101 different opportunities for this summer, and trying to make the decision about which ones to choose a commitment for my entire degree with a clear career path laid out afterwards, mean there were some big decisions. It’s terrifying, and pretty exciting.”

ARM’s intellectual property business model means Luke is yet to be taken fully into confidence, but he has aspirations to work in the hardware design team for the Central Processing Units (CPUs) and core software.

He is grateful to his Director of Studies at Caius, Dr Rasha Rezk, for her support, and knows he still must perform well in the remainder of his four-year degree.

He adds: “The degree is really important for learning all the material I’m going to need to take this forward, and I also get to have the practical experience of being in a company, learning how to have a job. It’s a great opportunity to learn and to develop both academically and professionally at the same time.”

Luke’s scholarship is the latest success for Caius engineers, after Matthew Barker in December won the Siemens MR Magnet Technology (MR MT) Undergraduate Sponsorship Scheme for 2020.

Oren Levene is a first-year undergraduate who has also been successful in securing a UKESF-Arm scholarship, alongside Luke.

“I thought I should have a go and apply for a scholarship,” says Oren, pictured.

“Applying for one of these internships is a really long process. To know I have something guaranteed for the next few years is really important.

“And with Arm I couldn’t have got a better opportunity. It’s a good motivator to make sure I do well in my degree, because at the end I could get a job with them.”

:: Caius students: please share news of your academic and extra-curricular successes with Matt McGeehan, the Head of Communications by emailing news@cai.cam.ac.uk.