University of Wolverhampton Business School Newsletter Issue 2
Employability Week 20-24th January
The Business School held a four day Employability and Enterprise event at the end of January to encourage all students to think about their current skills. Business and Law students took part in a variety of talks and workshops to develop their employability skills and confidence. We welcomed Julia Speed, Enterprise Rent A Car to launch the event with a thought provoking talk on how to succeed through graduate interview stages. Students were awarded Amazon vouchers based on their engagement with the sessions and all students received certificates for attendance to the workshops. The event culminated with an Employer and Employment provider fair. “I had a really great week it was well informed and productive and it has given me great tips to help me with my career� Jyoti Chumber, prize winner.
New developments Hotel School The Department of Marketing, Innovation, Leisure and Enterprise have announced the development of a new Hotel School. The school will be based at the Telford campus. The Hotel will provide a portfolio of facilities including campus guestrooms with threestar VisitEngland rating, on-site food and beverage facilities, multi-purpose conference venues, as well as teaching rooms. Faculty members and the University of Wolverhampton’s Hospitality and Accommodation Services (HAS) will jointly develop students from their entry level training in year 1 to supervisory experience in the later stages of their education. The development of the hotel school at the University of Wolverhampton will allow us to be one of the UK’s first academic institutions providing real-life hospitality education at university level.
Business School – New Building If you have visited North Campus recently you will be aware that the gates leading up to MN and MH building are now closed off. This is to allow for ground works to start for the brand new Business School Building due to Open in September 2015. We will welcome students from Sports, Tourism, International Hospitality and Events and Venue Management courses to the Business School at City Campus at that time.
IoD Mentoring A visit to Asprey 24 Final year student mentees taking part in the IoD Student Mentoring scheme attended an event at Apsray24, local logistics company in Willenhall where they were given a tour of the new buildings. Students were invited to take part in interviews with a number of mentors from the scheme.
Aspray24 HR Professionals were on hand to review the mentees CVs and to offer application advice. Stuart Laight (the MD of Apsray24, who organised the event and also acts as one of the mentors said; ‘I was really pleased that it all seemed to go extremely well and certainly the students and indeed mentors seemed to get something from it…. You should be very proud of what the Business School has achieved in such a short time.’ The IoD Student Mentoring scheme is open to all final year students. To find out more email Jenni.Jones@wlv.ac.uk In your final year? It’s your last chance to help prospective students find the University and course for them. Complete the National Student Survey before Friday 11 April and leave your mark: http://www.thestudentsurvey.com/
£27k raised by Business School
Over Students
(Above: Laurren Wood-Bowness accepts the Creativity Cup for her team from Roger Jones) Students studying Enterprise, Innovation and Creativity at Level 5 have raised a staggering £27k for local charities including Steve Bull Foundation, Acorns Children’s Hospice, St Anthony’s Leonard Cheshire Disability and Compton Hospice. This brings the total raised over 4 years since the modules inception to £100k. Students showcase their work at the Wolverhampton Racecourse at the “Exhibition of Applied Creativity”. Alongside the exhibition, young entrepreneurs were on hand to talk to
the students about starting up their own business. SPEEDPlus who funded the exhibition were also on hand to talk about their start-up scheme. Students met the challenge head on with Spinathons, Sponsor Tattoos, a Fashion Show, Bollywood evening, Sponsored Dog Walking, Football Tournaments and Family Fun Days and many more activities. “It was absolutely brilliant!” Steve Bull, Steve Bull Foundation.
That’s over £100k in four years! Prizes were awarded for the highest total raised; £11k for Compton Hospice, by John Philips, Regional Chair of the Institute of Directors (IoD) and the Creativity Award was presented by Richard Hilton of Fabweld. Nick Holzherr of The Apprentice made an appearance and offered the young entrepreneurs the benefits of his experience from working on the show. “It's hard to say who were more inspired by the event - the students or the guests! We were most impressed with what the students had achieved, particularly in such a short space of time.” Eileen Hammond, fellow and former Honorary Secretary of the Institute of Fundraising. Dr Anthea Gregory, Dean “It is great to see the dynamism and entrepreneurial spirit of our students. We are very proud of what our students have achieved.”
(Above: Dr Anthea Gregory, Team Endeavour and John Philips, Institute of Directors (IoD))
Guest Speakers Stephen Oliver, Marston’s Stephen Oliver returned to deliver his second lecture on how Marston’s turned their market analysis and internal appraisal into strategies for the company. He also covered the importance of effective SWOT analysis.
Tajinder Sian, Serco HR Transitions Project Manager and former UWBS student returned to give a talk to current HR students. He discussed his career path into HR, how he applied his knowledge and offered helpful insights in getting started in the field. Tajinder is enjoying a successful career with Serco, one of the largest people services companies in the world.
Coming up…
Harry Koner Caparo Prize Winner
For final year students and students with an interest in managing across Managing Across Borders & Swiss Re borders Tuesday 6 May, 2pm in MA133 Harry also will discuss how his Master’s degree has helped secure a place on the graduate programme with Swiss Re. Please email N.Dacre@wlv.ac.uk to indicate attendance.
Looking for a bit of extra help? Skills Support If you need extra individual advice on any aspect of writing, referencing or numeracy in your discipline area you can meet confidentially with one of our advisers to discuss your work face to face. Appointments are available to all students, whether you’re struggling with your work, or simply wanting to improve your academic competence. To book: Go to MC125, MC Building or call 01902 321515, 9am -5pm
24 hour and Easter Opening Hours Harrison & Walsall Learning Centres As assessment and examination time approaches and activities need to be completed, Harrison and Walsall Learning Centre will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to provide you with access to a safe and studious environment during the following period: 24 hour opening: Monday 24th March until Thursday 17th April at midnight and Wednesday 23rd April until Friday 16th May Harrison & Walsall Learning Centres Easter Opening hours: Thursday 17th April 2014 Friday 18th April 2014 Saturday 19th April 2014 Sunday 20th April 2014 Monday 21st April 2014 Tuesday 22nd April 2014 Wednesday 23rd April 2014
Close at 12 midnight * CLOSED 0900 - 1700 CLOSED CLOSED 0900 - 1700 0830 onwards
Enterprising Opportunities
Are you looking to start your own business? SPEEDPlus is a six month business start-up project part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), who aim to help create new businesses in the West Midlands. The project is led by the Enterprise Department at the University of Wolverhampton, who work in partnership with Keele University, Birmingham City University, Staffordshire University and Coventry University. SPEED Plus offer: • A business address at Wolverhampton Science Park • Access to an office incubation space • The use of internal and external resources, such as PCs, Macs, Printers, Internet, etc. • The opportunity to bid for financial assistance • One to one mentoring support from an experienced business consultant • Practical business development workshops • Networking opportunities How to apply for the September 2014 cohort Places are limited, therefore, applications forms should be sent as soon as possible before the deadline on Friday 20 June 2014, 5pm. Visit to the SPEEDPlus website for an application form. Led by the University of Wolverhampton, the Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise Network (KEEN) is a graduate programme, part-funded by ERDF, designed to help ambitious graduates’ kick-start their careers while earning a competitive salary. The programme involves a recently qualified graduate (known as an Affiliate) working for an organisation on a strategic project, developed in association with a regional university. KEEN stands out from other graduate programmes as Affiliates are placed at the heart of a company’s growth plan while being mentored by an academic and given the chance to put their degree into real world practice. Find out more: www.wmkeen.org.uk
Thinking about Postgraduate Study? Making the transition to Postgraduate study Davinder graduated with a BA (Hons) Business Management (Enterprise) from the University of Wolverhampton and signed up for the Master of Business Administration (MBA) which fitted in with his career plan. Several months into the course Davinder shared his thoughts about the transition to Postgraduate study: “I’m really enjoying my MBA. My classes are much more collaborative as I’m studying with executives and individuals from industry from all over the world. We share knowledge and practical experiences from our own business areas. I’m working on my final dissertation alongside my other modules which helps informs the work as I move through the programme. It takes a lot more self-discipline studying at this level and the quality of the work that we produce is to a very high standard. Lectures and workshops are quite practical in nature; we’re expected to read around the subject areas for each session so we can apply the theory in class.
We recently went on a residential to South Wales to observe business practices and team work in the dangerous environment of Coal Mining. We spent a weekend in Cardiff doing fun team building challenges with fellow students. We were all sceptical at first but by the end of the weekend we all came away having made new friendships across a wide range of cultures and backgrounds.” Why study Postgrad with us? We offer a wide range of subjects at Postgraduate level, part-time, full0to help you deepen your knowledge and practical application of that knowledge. You will learn by taking part in live case studies, see how real businesses operate and be part of a learning community from around the world. To find out more about our courses: Visit www.wlv.ac.uk\uwbs\pg or email uwbs-graduate@wlv.ac.uk