ENTERPRISING students reaped the rewards of swapping their trainers for suits this summer to gain work experience with Oxfordshire companies.

Stephanie Henderson, from Banbury, won £100 from the Oxford Trust as "most enterprising student in Oxfordshire" in the Shell Technology Enterprise Programme for her work with Cytocell, based in Adderbury.

Stephanie, who is doing a combined studies degree at Newcastle, developed a business plan to find a new outlet for the company's genetic testing kits.

Kate Phelps, of the Oxford Trust, said: "The judges were impressed by the quality of her presentation and business awareness, and the fact that she left the company with real benefits - a database of contacts and a format for a customer newsletter which she had launched."

Cytocell employs 18 staff making and selling the kits used to detect abnormal chromosomes.

Psychology student Tamsyn Pollard won £100 from Barclays Bank for best business project, working with drug development company Valorum, of Goring. William Chu, studying engineering, economics and management at Oxford University, won £100 from business advisers Grant Thornton for best technology project, developing an instrument testing system for marine engineers TSS, of Witney.

Other enterprising under- graduates included engineering students George Peridas and Allan Hogwood, who developed mathematical models for 3D graphics with computer games software company Math Engine in Oxford; Nicola Turner, of Oxford, who researched new print technology for printers Blazepoint, of Chalgrove; business student John Norman, of Tubney, near Abingdon, who looked at commercialising Oxford University research; and Matthew Palmer, of Chipping Norton, who developed a marketing database for Contact Security in Oxford.

The Step projects, backed by the Department of Trade and Industry, aim to encourage students to explore employment in small businesses.

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