A Coventry University student is gearing up for a dream graduate position in Formula 1 after finding the perfect course through clearing.
Titus Takyi Adarkwa, 22, will soon be playing a key role as part of former F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton’s team, having secured a graduate position in the Quality Department at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains.
Titus said: “I will be checking over the engines for Lewis Hamilton’s and George Russell’s Formula One cars, ensuring there are no defects. I’ll also be involved in examining the power units and seeing how they can be improved. It does feel a bit daunting to be part of a team that has the drivers’ lives in its hands. There’s a lot of pressure, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
It’s been quite a journey for Titus who, back in 2019, was facing some difficult choices after just missing out on the grades he needed to take up two university offers.
“I had offers from Warwick and Cambridge, but it was a challenging exam period for me and when results day came, I didn’t get what I needed,” he said. “I felt really lost at the time; it was devastating. I just thought I’m going to end up going somewhere for three years and studying something I’m not really into.”
Despite the setback, Titus set about looking for alternative courses, eventually finding his way to a clearing open day at Coventry University.
“I’d been doing a bit of research on different universities and knew from going to Warwick that there was another university close by that lots of people were visiting, and I decided to take a look at Coventry’s clearing open day,” he said.
“Originally, I went to find out about physics. I was in EEC (Engineering, Environment and Computing building), having a chat about the course, but when I finished, one of the engineering academics came over to me and asked if I knew anything about manufacturing and engineering. I’d never even thought about it, but he spoke to me about the Manufacturing Engineering four-year course, and I just loved what I heard, particularly, the opportunities to work with companies like Unipart on real-life projects.
“I took a taxi down to the Unipart labs for a tour and by then I knew my mind was made up. The course itself has been amazing. It was a small cohort for Manufacturing Engineering and a close-knit group.”
During his studies in Coventry, Titus founded the university’s Manufacturing Society, and as president organised a special live Taskmaster event at the Ellen Terry building.
Coventry University’s established links with Mercedes helped put Titus in the frame for the graduate position, though he still had to negotiate a tough interview process before receiving the news he was hoping for.
Patricia Ashman, Associate Head of Future Transport Engineering at Coventry University, said: “Titus is a brilliant example of how clearing should not be seen as failure but as a different door opening into other, and often better, opportunities. When Titus contacted the academic team during clearing, like so many others he was not in a great place, seeing all the careful planning for courses and universities of the last few years fall apart.
“We spent some time talking to Titus and understanding more of what he was passionate about and what brought him to clearing. It was clear from this conversation that his original choice of course was not the perfect fit anyway, and that we believed that he strongly fitted the profile of a manufacturing engineer.
“He took our guidance and has thrived, achieving first class honours and distinction grades throughout his studies, and was recognised with the Outstanding Leader of the Year Award in addition to other accolades. Titus is a role model of excellence in our student population. He exemplifies what can be achieved when our students embrace all the opportunities Coventry University provides for young engineers.”
Find out more about Manufacturing Engineering at Coventry University here.
