Darlington Uzoma Chikanya, who studies Computer Science and Software Engineering, received the prize, awarded annually to one computing undergraduate, for a succession of first class grades.

“I feel really happy,” said Darlington, who will now be made an automatic member of the BCS and receive a cheque of £150. “It encourages me to work even harder and do even better in the second year.”

Sue Brandreth, Visiting Lecturer at the University and from the Bedford BCS, gave Darlington her seal of approval.

“I am delighted that Darlington has been awarded the Bedford BCS Branch student prize in recognition of his outstanding achievements in his first year,” she said.

“From the start of the course he has proved himself a model student – studying extremely hard and, at the same time, being very pro-active and maintaining a very positive approach to his work.

“He is always very cheerful and always ready to support his peers in their studies – a true asset to his group. Darlington is looking forward to a very promising future.”

As well as teaching him the core skills of programming, Darlington’s course has placed emphasis on his employability, an element for which he is full of praise.

“Besides the hard skills of programming, I’ve gained so many soft skills that will help me when I go out into the world of work,” he explained.

“Part of my course was to investigate what was required of an employee in the field. Most of it was to do with leadership and teamwork.

“If I wasn’t here, I wouldn’t have gained those skills. I didn’t have those before but from coming here I’ve gained all of them, which will help me in the future.

“That’s really important to me. If a university is able to give those things to students, I rate them for doing that. It makes you employable before you even step out.”

The leadership ability gained in Darlington’s first year is set to be boosted further as he continues into his second year of studies, combining those with his new position as a PAL (Peer Assisted Learning) leader at Bedfordshire.

“If you end up being a PAL leader, you end up gaining leadership skills and integrity,” he said.

“You get to guide other students on what’s required and what they should focus on. You help them think and process what needs to be processed.”

Supplemented by the collaboration between the University and the BCS, which includes a regular programme of events, the latest batch of computing students is set to be an employable, cultured and open-minded one. 

“It’s really good that they [University and BCS] come together like that,” said Darlington.

“The BCS Society always holds events which widen our knowledge. The unit of knowledge is information and they bring us information through events which are fun.

“It makes the student feel like they aren’t just on the course to study; it gives them that view of the outside world.”