Thu 24th November, 2011
An international student who recently graduated from the University of Bedfordshire will leave a lasting legacy, both at the University’s Business School and for her work with local organisations across Bedfordshire.
Merle Niederhuefner, who hails from Hamburg, Germany, achieved a BA Advertising & Marketing Communications degree with First Class Honours and during that time won the Dean's prize for Marketing.
As a postgraduate student, Merle gained a Distinction in her Msc International Business & Management course. Now, she is considering a number of job offers.
Merle said: “The University has so much more to offer than just interesting courses. But in order to tap the full potential, students need to actively engage and be willing to invest their time and knowledge.
“My commitment was rewarded by being able to meet some amazing people. All this made my time at University an exciting experience.”
She collected her award at a graduation ceremony at St Mary’s Church, Luton earlier this month.
Not content with studying for her degrees, Merle was one of the founder members of the University’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and worked with advisors from the University’s Careers and Employment Service and graduate M Sameer Ali Jinnah to address issues in the local community.
The team chose NOAH Enterprise as a partner, which has a long history of collaboration with the University. Merle was part of the SIFE team which carried out research to establish how NOAH Enterprise could best improve its business plan and fundraising efforts.
Merle was also a member of the University’s team of six who won the national three-day inter-university Flux Competition in 2010. Flux crams a whole raft of enterprise and employability challenges into less than 36 hours. They were chosen as the winning team and awarded £500 each from a competitive process involving 32 universities from across the UK. Merle went on to be a member of the University’s 2011 Flux team and participated in the annual competition held in Bristol earlier this year.
Merle and three fellow students also drew up a sponsorship plan for Bedford and County Athletic Club and she has been a volunteer at Barnfield College in Luton.
Dean of The Business School Professor Paul Burns said: “I congratulate Merle on her outstanding success and contributions to the University of Bedfordshire. She not only excelled at achieving First Class Honours, but is a shining example of putting all her studies in business and marketing straight into practice and is a fantastic example for future students to follow. I wish Merle the very best for the future.”
