FORMER Okehampton College student Jan Jachnik has reached the finals of the a major European competition — the Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) Awards for Europe — in the mathematics category.

The SET Awards are the world's most important awards for science and technology undergraduates.

Supported by leading scientific and technical institutions, the awards provide a showcase for educational excellence by publicly recognising the exceptional achievements of both students and universities.

Jan achieved 5 As in his A Levels in 2007 at Okehampton College, including further mathematics.

Jan was able to study the subject thanks to the further mathematics support programme which helps students to study the subject on their own away from the classroom.

The self-controlled study helped prepare Jan for his university studies at prestigious Imperial College in London where he studied mathematics.

Jan received his nomination for the award for investigating the effects of gravity on an unbalanced spinning disk. He used a relatively new sphere of mathematics, called geometric mechanics, to solve the problem more easily than by the use of conventional mathematics.

Judges take several criteria into account when looking at a student's project.

The creativity, technical depth and scientific knowledge, level of achievement and quality of synopsis are all taken into account, as are the personal qualities of the student in question, based on the citation of their university lecturer and an interview with the judging panel.

Jan's father, also called Jan, said: 'Jan is feeling pleased about the award but he is very laid back and does not show a great deal of emotion for such things.

'He is also very modest and seems as quick to point out his failings as his victories.

'I am also laid back and quietly proud of his achievements.

'His mother on the other hand is chuffed to bits and can't stop bouncing up and down with excitement!'

Jan's grades at Imperial have been consistently outstanding, winning an array of awards along the way. These include winning the Gloucester Research Prize for Academic Excellence three times, the Derek Moore Prize of Excellence in applied mathematics, and the governor's prize for best mathematics student in his year.

He will go on to complete a PhD in computer vision at Imperial next year.

The final takes place at a gala dinner at the Millenium Hotel in Grosvenor Square in London on Friday September 23.