SUFFOLK BUSINESS SCHOOL WORKING WITH EMPLOYERS

SUFFOLK BUSINESS SCHOOL WORKING WITH EMPLOYERS

WELCOME TO SUFFOLK BUSINESS SCHOOL THE SUFFOLK BUSINESS SCHOOL AT UCS HAS OVER 700 STUDENTS, WITH A GROWING INTERNATIONAL INTAKE. 92% OF 2013 UCS GRADUATES ARE IN EMPLOYMENT OR FURTHER STUDY*, REFLECTING OUR STRONG EMPHASIS ON EMPLOYABILITY AND ENTERPRISE AND THE SUCCESS OF THE PARTNERSHIPS BUILT WITH EAST ANGLIAN BUSINESSES. UCS graduates are rated highly by employers across the region, entering a wide range of organisations upon graduation, such as Willis, Genesis HR, BT, Fred Olsen and TA Hotels. We are proud that our students graduate as creative and enterprising individuals with a dynamic global business outlook. We offer a dynamic portfolio of professionally relevant degree courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the following areas: Business, Management and Marketing Accounting and Finance Human Resource Management Events, Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure This includes BA (Hons), MA, MSc and MBA qualifications. We are also developing niche areas of specialism, which relate to industry and regional economic need, in heritage management, sustainable development, leadership, innovation and IT. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and doctoral study opportunities are also available. Suffolk Business School has established strong partnerships with many regional businesses and UCS is uniquely placed to lead the way in developing the world-class talent we need to help grow and shape the regional economy. East Anglia is full of innovation, entrepreneurship and ideas and we want to encourage as many students as possible to qualify and work here, and to make a positive contribution to the growth of the region. We have ambitious plans for the future. Key to this success is a close relationship between students and staff at UCS and the business community that surrounds us. Suffolk Business School is committed to ensuring its graduates enter the workplace with the skills, qualities and attributes required by employers. We want to work with you to continue to provide a successful student experience for all who choose to join us at UCS. PROFESSOR IAN BAXTER Head of Suffolk Business School *Destination of Leavers from Higher Education Survey 2014

STRATEGIC PROJECTS We can help with strategic planning of projects. Get an injection of new expertise to help with a specific project. Gain a fresh perspective and new insights into your business. Peter Shakespeare, Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Ipswich based charity ActivLives approached the Suffolk Business School with a real organisational problem. Suffolk Business School took the ActivLives business strategy and created live brief assignments for undergraduate and postgraduate students. The challenges related to analysing current strategic and operational functions and then developing marketing and communication strategies to achieve growth objectives and customer delivery outcomes for ActivLives. MBA student groups presented their marketing proposals to the trustees, which were gratefully and enthusiastically received, with several recommendations being subsequently adopted. I N C R E A S E PRODUCTIVITY Offering student work placements not only brings new ideas to your business, it can give short term support to your employees, enabling them to focus on more creative and strategic tasks.

TEST-DRIVE TALENT AND SOURCE FUTURE EMPLOYEES Work placements give businesses the opportunity to trial new talent and can often lead to permanent employment. Summer and part-time placements provide an ongoing pipeline of potential employees with many students going straight into employment with their work placement providers after graduating. We can help you grow substantially and get reliable, talented and dedicated employees and advisers. D E V E L O P CURRENT STAFF Offering work placements gives opportunities for your staff to develop their supervisory, training and mentoring skills. Working with us to deliver guest lectures also develops existing employees presentation skills. RAISE YOUR PROFILE AMONG THE NEXT GENERATION OF GRADUATES Engaging with Suffolk Business School through offering work placements and guest speakers improves your future recruitment by raising the business profile with the next generation of graduates. Creating student awareness of employment opportunities to support regional businesses is central to the Suffolk Business School s mission. Dr Will Thomas Lecturer GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITY Contribute to your corporate social responsibility and sustainability objectives by offering business experience to local undergraduates and postgraduates. Supporting the wide range of student talent that joins Suffolk Business School s programmes is a two-way commitment with our business partners to ensure our graduates have a broad range of opportunities and can look forward to a bright future ahead.

Gary Shoesmith Education Liaison Director, Willis

Gary Shoesmith Education Liaison Director, Willis Willis is extremely proud of its mutually beneficial relationship with UCS. The strong emphasis UCS places on employability is very impressive and refreshing, and has been consistently evident throughout our six year partnership. In addition to providing work placements for UCS students, we have also recruited 20 UCS graduates in to key job roles over the past four years, all of whom are engaged in helping us service our existing clients and generate new business prospects. Working with UCS has been a key priority to Willis as we constantly seek to identify high quality graduates to support our increasingly evolving business processes and global client base. Jacob Fordham, a UCS Business Management graduate, is now working as an account handler within Willis Reinsurance Department and advises other students to take the opportunity of the summer internships that UCS helps to organise. If you complete an internship in the summer while you study, when you finish University you ll have the right experience that employers are looking for. When you go to interviews it will show that you have the drive to do well. WORK PLACEMENTS AT WILLIS OVER THE PAST SIX YEARS, THE WILLIS SUMMER WORK PLACEMENT PROGRAMME HAS BEEN A KEY PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN SUFFOLK BUSINESS SCHOOL, WILLIS AND OUR STUDENTS. During this time Willis has given over 70 UCS students the opportunity to undertake work placements over the summer providing access to one of the firm s European offices, handling risk management and reinsurance across a wide range of service areas and industries. Carol Faiers Visiting Fellow in Employability at Suffolk Business School At UCS we pride ourselves in helping our business students get work placements with local businesses, as we know this experience can lead to full-time jobs. We have worked with Willis for over six years and it s a win-win situation - our students get invaluable work experience and Willis is able to employ these talented and well qualified young people.

WORKING WITH EVENT AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT Laura Locke Course Leader OUR EVENT AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME HAS DEVELOPED A RANGE OF EXCELLENT PARTNERSHIPS WITH MORE THAN 70 BUSINESSES ACROSS THE REGION, SUPPORTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDUSTRY AND THE GRADUATE SKILLS BASE. ORGANISATIONS WE WORK WITH INCLUDE: For example, St. Elizabeth Hospice has frequently engaged our students to plan and implement The Midnight Walk and The Great Xscape. Students research, plan and execute events. They work at a strategic and creative level, defining objectives and scoping out the events, sourcing suppliers, and planning and implementing a marketing plan. In addition they are responsible, along with the events team, for the event delivery, on the day logistics, volunteer co-ordination, and health and safety. Ipswich Borough Council Fujitsu Ipswich Museum Service Ormiston The Suffolk Foundation The National Trust The Canal and River Trust Trinity Park Events Suffolk County Council Caroline Gould Events Turtle PR Affinity PR St. Elizabeth Hospice Dance East Suffolk Agricultural Association Heritage Lottery Fund Christine Bond, Commercial Manager at Trinity Park It s incredibly pleasing to see how well trained these graduates are and how ready they are for industry following their studies at UCS. They all have a can-do attitude, insightful knowledge, great customer focus and the ability to manage their time in the demanding events industry. We look forward to continuing to develop our long term relationship with UCS in future both through the educational initiatives of the Suffolk Agricultural Association, our parent charity, and on a practical basis working with students on their annual conference held in our Events Centre.

Helen Oldfield Affinity PR Helen Oldfield Affinity PR I first got involved at UCS after meeting one of the tutors while networking. We chatted about some of the excellent events we had each attended that were half-empty (it can happen when organisers focus efforts on operational delivery at the expense of PR). The tutor invited me to guest lecture to BA (Hons) Events Management students about the vital role of PR and marketing in events success. Later on, I presented to BA (Hons) Tourism students about PR and marketing skills in tourism sector careers, returning with a second session on pitching/presenting skills to win new business. Involving my work at Affinity PR with UCS is always a delight. Part of my newer role as a Visiting Fellow is to help and support individual students too, with feedback, skills development, mentoring, useful contacts and facilitating introductions. If your company has the opportunity to get involved with UCS, go for it! I enjoy the professional challenge of having to prepare fresh lecture content. My own reward is working with students who are lively, engaged, motivated and interested in the fascinating world of PR. By the time they graduate they are highly employable too, which also gives me great satisfaction.

VISITING SENIOR FELLOWS AND VISITING FELLOWS WE VALUE THE SUPPORT OFFERED BY OUR VISITING SENIOR FELLOWS AND VISITING FELLOWS; THEIR GUEST LECTURES PROVIDE A STIMULATING RESEARCH AND DISCUSSION FORUM FOR OUR STUDENTS AND STAFF. Shaun Bailey CE, Jacob Bailey Group It has always been a pleasure to get involved in initiatives that help would be young professionals enter what is an incredibly varied and rewarding industry. Today s creative and marketing community combines psychology Shaun Bailey CE, Jacob Bailey Group with creativity, marketing with economics, technology with analytics, plus a healthy measure of good old fashioned people skills. Not many professions can boast such a wide variety of career paths and skill sets. I personally advise when called upon to give a marketing practitioner s perspective on current UCS marketing course frameworks and I also get involved in wider UCS initiatives that promote creativity and digital to the benefit of students, businesses and our local community in general. One such initiative is helping students organise and manage an annual event, the UCS International Women s Day Conference. We have been able to advise and coach students in the look, feel and communications of the event as well as providing speakers from within the agency and appraising the students at the end of the project. Everyone involved from the agency with UCS finds it extremely satisfying, it actually helps our team in their own personal career development. All in all, both agency and UCS get something out of the relationship and long may that continue. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON WORKING WITH SUFFOLK BUSINESS SCHOOL AS A VISITING FELLOW PLEASE EMAIL: talkbusiness@ucs.ac.uk

THE SUFFOLK BUSINESS SCHOOL IS RECOGNISED BY THE FOLLOWING PROFESSIONAL BODIES: CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF PERSONNEL AND DEVELOPMENT: Suffolk Business School is an approved centre and our CPD programme provides students with membership of the CPD. - CHARTERED MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE: We are an approved centre to offer CMI qualifications and students successfully completing our MBA programme can also be awarded the CMI Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership. - INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS IN ENGLAND AND WALES. - MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATION OF BUSINESS SCHOOLS.

TALK TO US AND EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES EMPLOYER AND INDUSTRY LIAISON ARE KEY TO THE SUCCESS OF SUFFOLK BUSINESS SCHOOL, AND UCS AS A WHOLE, AND WE ARE KEEN TO DEVELOP PARTNERSHIPS ACROSS THE RANGE OF OUR ACTIVITIES. This can range from commissioning expert advice on a consultancy basis to developing research ideas, acting as a critical friend, providing student work-based learning opportunities, or creating bespoke Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Suffolk Business School aims to be embedded in the regional business community, and welcomes conversations to explore opportunities. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WWW.UCS.AC.UK/BUSINESS talkbusiness@ucs.ac.uk 01473 338833