Transcript of RAU Rural Land Management Video

I'm so happy I came to the RAU, the friends I've made here will be friends for life, the contacts I've made will be so useful for the future. We're often asked you know what does the land agent do? What does the rural land manager do? What does an estate manager do? You could go work on a large estate, you might be advising somebody who just owns an acre or two of land, you might want to go and work with one of the big national firms; Strutt and Parker, Bidwells, Savills. But your character might actually be better placed going into a more local firm.

Having a course that had both valuation law as well as agriculture and rural land use was something that was really very, very interesting to me and something I was very passionate about. You do sort of everything from business to law, to valuation, to like building surveying. You really pick up a wealth of skills that people then do go off into very different jobs.

The location here at RAU is excellent because it means that our surveying students have got more of a general practice outlook, so they're not just looking at purely commercial office, industrial and retail type property. I’m very happy with the area it's in because it's the Cotswolds, it offers such a wide range of different examples of what can be expected. You will go out to a site which is potentially suitable for development, and then your coursework may well be based around actually preparing a planning application to do something with that particular site. I really enjoy the visits as it like allows me to link what I've learnt in theory to practical life. So these visits just back up my knowledge and allow me to be able to go further inmy education. To actually see what we're learning one week, in practice the next week is really great.

Work experience is now a compulsory part of our course. We also really work hard with them, on top of their studies, to get their CV's and their covering letters, and their applications, together so that they can put their strongest foot forward. Last summer I actually did a work placement in London. The lecturers here advised me to go and get experience in different fields, because it all helps with experience and then getting a job. Our students have got a very high employability percentage record. They go off to work for all sorts of different commercial real estate practices, and of course one of the real strengths of the RAU is its alumni network. The course is definitely preparing me for the choices

I am making now and what I will be making in the future. I feel like I've learnt so much in the last few years here that I am going to exceed in the workplace. It's been one of the best decisions I've made throughout my life.