Hazel Mowbray already knows how she will spend the £10,000 prize money she won as Graduate of the Year 2005.
Ms Mowbray, who is in her final undergraduate year at the London School of Economics and has accepted a place on a masters in development studies at the LSE, hopes to start a career planning projects to provide basic services in developing countries.
Before more study, however, the 21-year-old wants to spend a year at a healthcare clinic in Calcutta to build on work she has already undertaken in Ethiopia, India and in the UK.
"Health is what I'm interested in, but you really need to get the practical experience before you do the academic side," she said.
Ms Mowbray has worked as a volunteer since leaving school. "I get just as much out of it as the people I help," she said She hopes that publicity generated by the award will help persuade other students to do more volunteer work. "The most important thing is that people should not do voluntary work for their CVs, they should do it because they really want to."
The Graduate of the Year award, now in its second year, is run by Real World magazine in association with Moloney Search Graduates and PricewaterhouseCoopers. It honours exceptional students who have contributed to university life, their local community or society at large.