Rochdale student celebrates First Class Honours degree

Hayley Dorrington

A Rochdale student has been celebrating this week following almost five years at university.

Hayley Dorrington, 23, from Bamford graduated from the University of Huddersfield on Thursday (15 July 2010) with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Human Resources.

Ms Dorrington was awarded a First Class Honours degree and also received a certificate and £100 cheque for outstanding results as part of the course’s accreditation from The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

For the first two years of the course Ms Dorrington studied full time, in the third year she went on a placement year working for Carlsberg in Leeds.

At the end of the placement year Ms Dorrington was offered a full time position, but keen to finish her degree she carried on with her studies part time, using evenings and weekends to complete her coursework and dissertation.

“I couldn’t believe it when I got my results. I was very shocked but also really chuffed," said Ms Dorrington.

She added: “I had a lot of long days and long weekends and I had to juggle my work but I think working really helped me, I had the practical aspect of the job to help me understand the theory I was studying at university. I felt I could relate to things better, so overall having the job did really help.”

Following a long stretch of education Ms Dorrington is looking forward to a break whilst pursuing her career with Carlsberg, “I feel I am ready for a break, from my GCSEs to my A-levels to my degree I haven’t really stopped.”

Ms Dorrington's parents, Laraine and Roy Dorrington are extremely proud of their daughter’s hard work.

“My mum and dad have supported me so much; they put me through university and supported me so much. Half of my final year I lived at home, I have since moved out, but whilst I was there I took over their dining room doing my work,” said Ms Dorrington.

“My partner Tom (Noblet) has also been so supportive, we have been together all the way through university,” added the star student.

Ms Dorrington aspires to be a Human Resources Director in a big company or even have her own HR Consultancy however, for now, this all seems a long way away, she said.

When asked where she sees herself in ten years time Mr Dorrington said: “I would have liked to have done a Masters, I will be 33 by then so I don’t know if I will be a HR director, but I would like to think I will be at a high level and aiming towards being a director.”