Arnaud Fournier

Electronic Engineering - BEng (Hons)

Arnaud had originally considered doing an apprenticeship but changed his mind. He decided that university would give him the opportunity to become more independent. Since beginning his degree, Arnaud has always felt like he’s part of a community at BCU which has helped him overcome the challenges of his course. By working on group projects and undertaking a micro placement, Arnaud has gained new skills applicable to industry.

"Originally I was interested in doing an apprenticeship for Transport for London (TFL). However, I changed my mind and didn’t apply, and decided I wanted to go to university instead. I chose BCU because it had the Electronic Engineering course I wanted to study and it was also a great chance to become independent from my family in London.

When I started at BCU, I was made to feel comfortable and welcomed by the BCU community. Since beginning my university life, I have had to adjust to the workload and become more independent and conscious about my spending. Plus, at times I found the lectures to be complicated. However, lecturers are very helpful and will assist you if you are struggling.

The help given to me by members of staff has been great, especially by the Careers+ team. They have helped me create a CV and helped me secure a micro placement during the summer holidays. I worked in the Curso software house as a programmer at BCU. The software teams were given projects to complete within a set time frame for stakeholders. The micro placement has helped me gain programming experience in gaming, machine learning, and web scraping. I was also able to learn quite a lot in Python and Spyder.

One of my proudest accomplishments at BCU so far has been the work and projects I have produced as part of my degree. In my first year, I took part in the construction of a skyscraper. I was proud of the standard of work our team accomplished and the level of focus and determination we had. This experience has helped me become better at individual learning and working in multidisciplinary teams.

I joined the BCU Football team as I have always enjoyed sports, so it has been good to have an outlet for that. I am also a member of the Robotics Club for electronic engineering, and I find the engineering environment a welcoming space to be in.

When I finish my degree, I am interested in setting up a start-up company based in electronics and finding a job that will support me in this venture so I can fulfil my personal goals.

BCU has helped me discover new horizons, and to me ‘I AM BCU’ makes me feel proud of being a part of a community that is friendly and caring."