51Âþ»­

It was the chance to live and study in Leicester which led Tierney Morris to choose 51Âþ»­ Leicester (51Âþ»­) over her insurance choice in Clearing.


Flash forward to 2020 and Tierney, who has just graduated with a 2:1 in International Business, has had four years packed with opportunities that have allowed her to develop her skills to enter her chosen career in social media marketing.

Tierney Morris INSET


She said: “I really like Leicester. It’s small enough to walk everywhere and it’s close to campus, people are friendly, and there are lots of things happening, good bars. It is a good city to be a student in. When I looked at my first insurance choice I just couldn’t see me being there so I chose 51Âþ»­.

“Clearing was easy. I rang up, explained and was put through to Business and Law faculty who told me about the course. I got a verbal offer and the only downside was that I had to wait two days to get released from my insurance university which was a stress. They’ve changed that now so you can self-release so you don’t have to wait.”

Tierney discovered her love of marketing during her first year and specialised throughout her second and fourth year, choosing modules in brand marketing, brand management, digital marketing and international marketing as well as politics.

In her third year, she did a placement year with the university public engagement team at 51Âþ»­ Local. Tierney had spent years volunteering with the Rainbows and Brownies in Girl Guiding, and knew she loved working with children so she was a perfect fit for 51Âþ»­ Local’s schools and education team.

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Its work took her around the world, leading students teaching English in Bangkok, Thailand and in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. She also visited Delhi has part of her course’s 51Âþ»­ Global overseas study trip.

But perhaps as important was her contribution to Leicester. She led 51Âþ»­’s Holiday Hunger programme, mobilising students and staff to volunteer their time on a citywide scheme run by Leicester City Council. It aimed to ensure help families and children who rely on free school meals could continue to get meals and activities throughout the summer holidays.

Working on these projects helped Tierney develop management skills, work with 51Âþ»­ partner organisations and manage teams, as well as juggle different projects. She was able to use her social media savvy, honed during her years of study, to boost the team’s profile online and internally.

“I love doing anything on the social media or creative side, so when they asked me to take over the 51Âþ»­ Local social media accounts it was great fun. They are a lovely team and do so much good work.”

Her favourite part of the internship was working on 51Âþ»­ Aspire and 51Âþ»­ Talented, two week-long schemes which saw Year 12 and Year 10 students brought onto campus to experience university life.  “I loved that because we got to interact with the students and you could see the change in them throughout the week as they became more comfortable with the campus and gained confidence.”

During lockdown, Tierney has been working with 51Âþ»­’s marketing team, doing video work, social media takeovers and live hosting in The Lounge as part of 51Âþ»­’s Digital Open Day. “It’s daunting, but really exciting,” she said.

Tierney has nothing but praise for her 51Âþ»­ experience. “There have been so many opportunities,” she said. “I’ve made some great friends and had a brilliant experience. I definitely made the right choice.”