UAA 'On Tour' at ZF in Nottingham

On Thursday 23rd January 2014, 5 UNITECH students participated in a tour held at the ZF Services facility in Nottingham. This is part of their aftermarket organisation supporting ZF products and brands in the UK.

Our day started off at 10:00, where we started looking at their processes of ensuring they have a skilled workforce who can cover various aspects that ZF Services deal with. We looked at car gearboxes, military gearboxes, marine gearboxes and commercial gearboxes in one part of their facility. There are a lot of processes that need to happen to ensure there is accountability throughout, in case there is a failure or warranty claim. This helps the mechanic/technician who might be attempting to diagnose a fault half way across the world to go step and step to work out where the fault may lie.

Throughout the day, we had the opportunity to ask lots of questions in order to understand more about how everything works. The next part of their facility contained more stations to work on their car products and we then moved onto their dedicated rail facility. This has just been expanded with additional cranes so they can take on more work, with the ever increasing rail industry. The size and weight of these products are phenomenal! We then moved onto their third facility which works on an upcoming market, wind turbines. This section is quite special as it's logistical process works quite differently to the other sections.

Finally, we looked at the car steering wheel section, where the customer works in conjunction and has a dedicated area to meet their needs within the ZF facility. This was the final stage of the tour, which we completed with questions at 12:30.

Overall, this gave us an insight into a company which mainly deals with B2B (which most people overlook as they cannot find any way of associating with them) and has a lot to offer their employees and potential engineers who are interested in working for them.

Picture taken: ZF Facilities, Thursday 23rd January 2014
Rudy Birkner (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Abdi Hussein (Loughborough University, UK), Huzaifa Essajee (UAA LCC) and Florian Scheidegger (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

 

Picture taken: ZF Facilities, Thursday 23rd January 2014
Abdi Hussein (Loughborough University, UK), Huzaifa Essajee (UAA LCC), Florian Scheidegger (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Stina Klingvall (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden) and Rudy Birkner (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Picture taken: ZF Facilities, Thursday 23rd January 2014
John Bland (Head of Production, ZF Services UK Ltd), Huzaifa Essajee (UAA LCC), Florian Scheidegger (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Stina Klingvall (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden) and Rudy Birkner (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Second year as UAA LCC UK - 2013/2014

After the UNITECH International (UTI) and UNITECH Alumni Association (UAA) General Assembly that took place in Milan, Italy during the first week of September 2013, I was ready to come back and work with Dave Jenner on running the UAA Local UNITECH Chapter (LUC) UK. This will be the second year that the LUC is running and active in the UK, since Loughborough joined the UTI programme in 2010.

As Caterpillar has joined the UNITECH programme in the UK (being approved at the UTI GA), I promoted their first campus wide recruitment event to the incoming UNITECH students, which took place on Tuesday 8th October 2013. All students had a chance to go on one of their diggers which Caterpillar had brought onto campus and operate it!

Next, for our first UAA event, we welcomed the incoming UNITECH 2013/2014 students by organising a welcome dinner at The Moon & Bell in town, on Sunday 20th October 2013. I chose this location as I hoped it would give the UNITECHers a chance to eat some typical "British" food. Four out of the five incoming students could make it to this event. We started at around 7:30pm (19:30) and enjoyed our dinner, talking about life and culture, comparing it to the various countries everyone was from. It's such a nice feeling to talk about our previous experiences in Germany and Sweden. 

Picture taken: The Moon and Bell, Sunday 20th October 2013 
Huzaifa Essajee (UAA LCC), Rudy Birkner (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Daniele Simone (Politecnico di Milano, Italy), Stina Klingvall (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden) and Florian Scheidegger (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Picture taken: The Moon and Bell, Sunday 20th October 2013
 David Jenner (UAA LCC), Rudy Birkner (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Daniele Simone (Politecnico di Milano, Italy), Stina Klingvall (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden) and Florian Scheidegger (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)

Later on in the evening, Abdi joined us after just flying back from his UNITECH internship with ZF which took place in Germany and Czech Republic! Just shows the UNITECH spirit and enthusiasm among all the UNITECH participants. It was great to catch up with him as well, since we were from the UNITECH 2011/2012 year group (Abdi, Dave and I). We could spend ages talking and enjoying life, however, with the next day being a Monday, we decided to go home around 10:30pm (22:30).

On Thursday 23rd October 2013, Dr. Ashraf El-Hamalawi (UNITECH Programme Director at Loughborough) held his first promotion session for exchange programmes in the Civil and Building Engineering department. Three of the UNITECH students, Miquel (from UPC Barcelona), Rudy and Stina along with myself, promoted the UNITECH programme. It was really good for all of us to be present, as I gave general information on the UNITECH programme and the UAA, whereas the others gave some detailed information regarding the activities that occur throughout. Consequently, I have been informed that a lot of interest has been shown in the programme and hopefully we will see an increase in applications for UNITECH year 2014/2015. Aiming for more than 7 applications this year!

P.S. Anyone looking for UNITECH internships with Caterpillar? You'll be based in the UK. Log onto the UNITECH database, go to Company profiles, then click on Caterpillar where you will find the UNITECH contact and details. However, don't delay your speculative applications!

UAA Assessment Centre Social Event (ACSE) 2013

My initial plan was to post this within a week after the event, but final year of university and other projects kept me really busy.

Dave Jenner organised the ACSE for the evening of Tuesday 12th February 2013 from beginning to end, with some ideas and input from myself. With our budget of 125 € (roughly £100), we had finger food to serve us all at Browns Lane Bar & Restaurant, based near the town centre of Loughborough. From what we had learnt throughout the UNITECH year, we made sure that we turned up before 19:00 to make sure everything ran smoothly. 

It was great to have Abdi come down and join us, giving us a chance for a mini-reunion - UNITECH 2011/12 UK trio. We were joined by Gaia and Jessica, the 2nd semester incoming UNITECH students of 2012/13. So far, they had enjoyed their time at Loughborough and were getting involved with the Loughborough Student Experience. Shortly after our discussion, David Ward and 3 of the 4 assessors turned up and the evening then started.

We were served a selection of finger food which included a vegetarian option along with healthy salads. There was plenty of food for the nine of us, and we enjoyed a hearty discussion throughout the evening as though we had known each other for a long time. This evening provided a great networking opportunity for all of us and re-ignited the UNITECH spirit. 

On the day of the assessment centre, we had 6 students who made it through to the final stage. It was a good feeling when Dave and I found out that all of them were successful for getting onto the UNITECH programme 2013/14. Slowly but surely, students are learning that there is one thing you should do whilst at Loughborough - apply for the UNITECH programme.

Picture taken: Browns Lane Bar & Restaurant, Tuesday 12th February 2013
Rana Yavari (Schott, Germany) and Gaia Rossetti (Politecnico di Milano, Italy)

Picture taken: Browns Lane Bar & Restaurant, Tuesday 12th February 2013
Kirsten Duerr Udvari (Hilti, GB), David Jenner and Huzaifa Essajee (UAA LCCs)

Picture taken: Browns Lane Bar & Restaurant, Tuesday 12th February 2013
David Ward (General Secretary, UNITECH International) and Abdi Hussein (Loughborough University, UK)

Picture taken: Browns Lane Bar & Restaurant, Tuesday 12th February 2013
Daniel K. Berndt (Evonik, Germany) and Jessica Mills (TU Delft, Netherlands)

Welcome to UNITECH, I'm your UAA LCC...

After being voted in for the role of UNITECH Alumni Association Local Chapter Coordinator (UAA LOC) at the UAA General Assembly held in the early afternoon of Friday 17th August 2012, I can finally say that I've successfully run my first event. With a turnout of 10 students to our social on Monday 21st January 2013 at 18:00 (straight after exams for some!) it seems that Loughborough is slowly heading in the right direction with internationalising our students. A small database glitch meant that current UNITECH students did not receive my emails inviting them to events earlier on in the year. However, with the upcoming new website and database, this should hopefully be resolved. 

We had three current incoming UNITECH students who were here for their first exchange semester, along with five potential applicants (out of the seven that applied) turn up who may make it through to the assessment centre on Wednesday 13th February 2013. This event was supported by my colleague David Jenner, also an UAA LOC for Loughborough. This provided a great atmosphere for the potential applicants to learn more about the assessment centre, along with hints and tips on their potential host universities and how to make the most out of their exchange. Although the event was only planned for an hour, we had a great initial discussion for an hour and a half before everyone left to study for other exams. However, the incoming students and I stayed on for another hour after discussing cultural differences in the UK versus their home countries - Germany and Switzerland. This gave us an insight into how we perceive each others culture alongside our own opinions of our culture and that it all depends on the scope provided to each person in their country. Interested in wanting to know more about the scope? Then get in touch and we'll invite you to our next social - you don't have to be part of UNITECH to learn what we do. :)

Picture taken: Loughborough Students Union, Monday 21st January 2013
Top Row: David Jenner (UAA LOC)
Second Row: Till Richter (ETH, Switzerland), Timothy Oastler (Chem Eng, Loughborough)
Third Row: Lewis Johnston (Mech Eng, Loughborough), Riyaz Ismail (Mech Eng, Loughborough), Mohammad Ayub (RWTH Aachen, Germany)
Bottom Row: Pascal Waldvogel (ETH, Switzerland), Samuel Nunn (Chem Eng, Loughborough), Huzaifa Essajee (UAA LOC), Riccardo Bertorelli (Chem Eng, Loughborough)

UNITECH International Life #1

What happens after you've lived the international life? You return to your homeland, and get depressed and want to leave as soon as you can to go on your next adventure. You've had a life changing experience whilst abroad, made lots of friends and got to see lands that you most probably would not have if you did not participate in some sort of exchange programme. In my case, it was UNITECH, which Loughborough University joined in 2009. In the first year (2010/2011), there was only one student, from Wolfson School of Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, who loved it so much, that he graduated and decided to work at Hilti in Lichtenstein. That's one person who has converted to living the international life, for how long who knows?

In my year, which was the second year (2011/2012), there were three of us who made it through the rigorous application and interview process. We had a group based exercise, a presentation to prepare on the spot for a topic they have chosen and finally an individual interview by corporate partners. I was lost for words when I was told on the same day that I had made the final cut. I would be going abroad for a whole year to study at Chalmers in Gothenburg, Sweden.

I would have never bothered to take this opportunity if my personal tutor, Dr Roger Dixon, who was promoting the programme in my department, had convinced me to apply, after calling him a couple of days before the deadline to ask some questions. Therefore, I thank him for that. Also, I have to thank Jaguar Land Rover for giving me time off in such short notice, and also for allowing me to drop out of their sponsorship programme to participate in this pan-European programme.

Everyone asks me, why did I choose Sweden? I can tell you it was not because of the typical stereotypes that most people have heard, as I never knew about them. I applied because of the modules that I could do whilst studying there, which were related to renewable energy. However, I was told only a few weeks before arriving there that those modules were full up as my application arrived late, and also that I cannot do them as they are taught to chemical engineering students as it is part of their Masters programme, i.e. I do not have the pre-requisites to study those modules. Wow, I did not expect that. So then I picked embedded electronics modules, which are studied as part of a different Masters programme. In comparison, the same modules at Loughborough only have a few people studying them - I only found that out right now when I returned to Loughborough. I definitely enjoyed the way I studied them at Chalmers whereas I'm not sure I would have had the same experience at Loughborough. I'll never know...

Hopefully this gives an insight into the beginning of my international career and development and how it all worked out with UNITECH. There are a few posts detailing my time whilst in Sweden, and hopefully you will not have to wait another six months for the next chapter of my journey. Vi hörs!

Leap year 2012! (90 days to go...)

I could not miss the chance to blog on the leap year, which also coincides with 90 days being left until the end of the academic year at Chalmers. Exam week starts and ends on Saturday here at Chalmers. To have an exam on a Saturday morning is quite normal here. My second exam in the first quarter was on a Saturday afternoon. One of the last exams to take place before the beginning of the second quarter. Luckily this time, I've only got one course which has an exam next Thursday afternoon. My other course is an engineering group project which runs across the third and fourth quarter. For those of you not familiar with the terminology, a course is what you would call a module back in the UK.

In Sweden, there are a number of 'sweets' you have to try before you leave, especially if you stay the full year. The most famous one you come across is kanelbullar, also known as a cinnamon bun in English. They even have a whole day of the year dedicated to it - 4 October. I think I first had this when I was in Haga with Pierpaolo, Alex and Arno. Before you knew it, it was the season of giving - Jul (aka Christmas). Now, the Local UNITECH Chapter (LUC) Sweden held a baking event for all alumni to join. There were two alumni, Pier and I present. We had a chance to bake lussekatt (saffron bun) and knäck (translates to "break"). It was fun baking lussekatt as we all made our own designs as well as the traditional shape. Knäck is basically just a mix of sugar, which is quite unhealthy but okay for that once in a year treat. I also had the opportunity to bake lussekatt with Erik and Sven as well at Ostkupan. The next event was Shrove Tuesday, which has semla dedicated to it. Really tasty, and I had both the traditional one (sold everywhere) and the modified one (sold by 7-Eleven). I can still remember the taste - craving for one right now! Cannot wait for the next traditional Swedish sweet - I wonder what's next?