Students in Bristol are being reminded to register to vote by a campaign inspired by fellow undergraduates.
A voter registration campaign designed by Bristol City Council has been launched with the help of digital marketing undergraduates studying at UWE Bristol in the Bristol Business School. The campaign reminds new and returning students to register to vote at their new address.
Yvonne Dawes, Head of Statutory Registration at Bristol City Council said “Lots of students don’t know that they can register to vote in both their home town and also the place where they study. Registration is very quick and easy yet some students, when they decide where to use their vote, realise too late that they are not registered in that location.”
Around 200 third year students took part in an exercise to design a register to vote campaign, adding their creativity and ideas into the planning of the campaign.
Yvonne continued: “It’s been so valuable to work with students on this campaign, and receive the insight and recommendations from young people studying marketing. There are over 50,000 students in Bristol which is 11% of Bristol’s population. We want students to know their vote will make a difference and feel engaged with local democracy.”
Tom Bowden Green, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at UWE said “This is the third year we’ve worked with Bristol City Council on ‘live’ projects. For me, it’s really valuable for my students to experience working on realistic campaigns as it’s great work experience. I was particularly pleased to work on a voter registration campaign as I think it’s so important for young people to be engaging in politics.”
It is important that young people and students in Bristol, especially students who have moved house, register to vote by midnight on 26 November if they want to vote in the upcoming General Election.
Following the General Election in December, major local elections will take place in Bristol in May where the Mayor, 70 local councillors, as well as the region’s Police and Crime Commissioner will be elected. Anyone wanting to take part in these elections will need to make sure they’re on the electoral register.
Thanks to Caron Ricciardi, Senior Business Development Manager, for providing a case study from Lloyds Banking Group who are partnered with our Banking and Finance module here at UWE Bristol.
What is Course Connect?
Course Connect Partnerships help bridge the gap between academia and industry and contribute to the practice focus of our programmes. Businesses can partner with us to co-create knowledge and help educate our students by supporting a module on a taught programme for two years.
You can contribute through live cases studies, guest lectures, co-designing the curriculum mentoring or sponsoring students and student competitions, and providing internships or placements.
Please give a short bio and history of your business:
‘When Lloyds Banking Group was formed in 2009, it brought together many well-known, financial-sector brands, including Lloyds, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows. Our combined history stretches back more than 300 years, and encompasses a diverse range of businesses.’
How is your business getting involved
with Course Connect?
‘We provide support for the banking and finance programme, complimenting the programme modules through a variety of activities, for example:
Interactive presentations on Robotics and Money Laundering
Giving new starter students an introduction to the soft skills needed in business
Helping 2nd and 3rd year students with mock interviews, CV feedback and assessment centres to fully prepare them for careers after graduating.’
What interested you about being a
Course Connect partner?
‘We want young people to get a great start to their working life, sharing our experiences, knowledge and skills is a great way to help make that happen. This approach aligns to our Group purpose of Helping Britain Prosper.’
What is your feedback so far?
‘Personally I feel we have built a robust relationship with the lecturers and course directors / leads. This is complimented through Lloyds’ seat on the UWE Board, where in collaboration with other local businesses we help to shape the discussions for course content and direction. As an employer, we look to add value by ensuring the courses provide a ‘true to life’ perspective for students.’
‘When talking about our relationship with UWE internally to my Lloyds colleagues, I class us as an “integral partner for the programme”.’
If you would like to find out more about Course Connect or would like to become a partner, please email bbec@uwe.ac.uk.
Bristol Business School has been voted as one of the top 10 business schools in the UK by over 9,000 students thanks to Student Crowd.
‘With the popularity of Business related degrees in the UK on the rise and showing no signs of slowing down, it’s more important than ever that Universities offer top class courses, facilities and career prospects’
It’s for this reason that they compiled a list of the best
Business Schools in the UK as voted for by students themselves. They received a
massive 9,300 unique reviews that went into forming this comprehensive list.
They say “Bristol Business School is one of the UK’s leading
university business schools. Developing students in the art of leadership,
collaboration and enterprise, students will be ready to start a successful
career in business after graduation. With help building connections with
industry professionals, Bristol Business School has a 95% employment rate.”
Votes were calculated using a number of categories from Campus
and facilities to clubs and societies. Read more here.
Staff at UWE Bristol took part in the Everest Challenge in aid of promoting physical and mental wellbeing at work.
Over summer 2019 several staff across the University took
part in the Everest Challenge in aid of promoting physical and mental wellbeing
at work.
Organised by Fliss Cargill, Professional Development Team
Manager at UWE Bristol, the challenge was to climb the equivalent of reaching
the top of Everest using only the stairs in the Bristol Business School. The
number of steps required to do this was 58,070, equal to 2,420 flights.
All staff members who were involved had 8 weeks to complete
the challenge and they recorded the flights they had taken each day, giving way
to a bit of friendly competition between colleagues.
Fliss explains, “The purpose of the challenge was not only because I had always wanted to see how many times I’d need to walk up to my office to reach Everest (403.3 times!) but just to make us all think about how we could add some exercise into our work routine by taking the stairs rather than the lift and how much this might add to our mental health as well as physical”.
After a summer of aching calves and red faces, our staff
managed to complete the challenge in an impressive 6 weeks – 2 weeks ahead of
schedule. This challenge proved that we can all add a little bit more movement
into our work day which is especially important for those who have a sedentary
job role sat by a computer. We are lucky to have the facilities in the Bristol
Business School building to do this easily, with a staircase from floors 2 to 6
situated in the middle of the building with access from the downstairs Atrium
café.
UWE Bristol believe in empowering staff and students to make
healthy choices and have an initiative called Feel
Good at UWE Bristol. Have a look at their programme and gather some ideas
for inspiration to improve your wellbeing.
Interview with Dr Gareth Edwards, Associate Professor of Leadership Development
Dr Gareth Edwards is an expert in dispersed leadership from a community perspective and leadership development.
Gareth recently chaired the ‘Unlocking Performance through Employee Engagement’ Conference at the Bristol Business School. The event was focused on harnessing people’s skills and resources to boost productivity and save costs. There was also a focus on creating and sustaining employee engagement during challenging times.
Here, Gareth gives us his top 5 tips for engaging with your employees:
1. Make sure that you have a two-way conversation with organisational colleagues. It’s not enough to just open a dialogue or enter into a consultation. Employees need to feel like they’ve been part of a meaningful conversation and that their ideas have been discussed and explored. The decisions need to be strategic but with input from employees at all levels.
2. Consider the links to your organisations history. Include in the engagement dialogue a commentary about the purpose of the organisation and how this ties into current strategy and planning. Some firms have an innate family feel, others less so, but there is always a way to connect back to the roots of a company and explore engagement through heritage.
3. Think about the links between leadership and engagement. Good practice would warrant elements of distributed leadership whereby you recognise and reward examples of teams leading themselves within the organisation. It’s important to let this happen organically and promote excellence positively.
4. There is definitely something to consider around the subject of culture. There is no ‘right’ culture but it’s vital to recognise the importance that some people attach to this. Think about your organisation’s culture, how people reflect on this and link best practice to core values and behaviours.
5. Most importantly, have fun! Employees work hard and that should be recognised and encouraged, alongside social activities and a family friendly ethos. Things such as Away Days should have strategic and planning focuses, but some time should equally be spent on social activities. Things can be too formulaic, so try to find the right balance.
If you’d like
to read more about leadership and engagement read the CITB’s snapshot
report on ‘Building engagement: Encouraging leadership in construction’.
On Tuesday 25 June Bristol Business School hosted the ‘Unlocking Performance through Employee Engagement Conference’ in collaboration with Engage for Success, CITB and ILM. This was the first Engage for Success conference hosted outside of London, and it was fantastic to hold it here at UWE Bristol welcoming over 170 external delegates to the Business School.
On Tuesday 25 June Bristol Business School hosted the ‘Unlocking Performance through Employee Engagement Conference’ in collaboration with Engage for Success, CITB and ILM. This was the first Engage for Success conference hosted outside of London, and it was fantastic to hold it here at UWE Bristol welcoming over 170 external delegates to the Business School. The main theme of the event was around harnessing the skills of people and resources to reach new levels of engagement to boost productivity and save costs. There was also a focus on creating and sustaining employee engagement during challenging times, and with limited budgets, as often experienced by SMEs.
The event was chaired by Dr. Gareth Edwards, Associate Professor of Leadership Development at UWE Bristol, whilst Noordin Shehabuddeen, Director of Bristol Business Engagement Centre at UWE Bristol, welcomed the delegates, who came from a variety of professions from within the South West including the construction industry, accounting and finance, and local government. The conference was treated to some excellent keynote speakers focusing on the necessity for employee engagement now more than ever, to case studies from baby food manufacturer Ella’s Kitchen to Wilmott Dixon, a local construction company, who were recently ranked the 4th Best Company to work for by the Sunday Times.
There then followed a series of interactive workshops led by invited guests who are also ambassadors for Engage for Success, and a rather intriguing energiser event led by the Creator of Joy at Inspire me, who was able to create a credible rock choral version of ‘Aint No Mountain High Enough’ in just 20 mins – definitely an occasion which you had to be part of to actually believe. The event concluded with a keynote address from Andrew Sandiford, Managing Partner of local accountancy firm Bishop Fleming, followed by a panel discussion to answer questions submitted by the delegates throughout the day. It was evident that employee engagement is everyone’s responsibility, and many of the questions centered on how to do this if given little or no budget, as well as strategies as to how to gain support from the cynics and buy-in from senior management. Support was certainly gained by everyone present, and we were delighted to have hosted such a fantastic event.
The University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) has climbed to its highest ever position into the top 30 in the Guardian university league table, with its fourth consecutive rise up the table. Moving up 9 places from last year, the University is now ranked 28th out of 121 UK institutions in the newspaper’s latest annual guide for students. Business and Management courses at UWE have also gone up an impressive 29 places since last year.
A continued strong performance in the National Student Survey (NSS), achieving its highest ever result of 89%, and an increase in spend per student have helped the University rise to 28th in the 2020 guide, and 4th in the south west.
UWE Bristol has been ranked 2nd in the country for the satisfaction with course score, 6th in the country for its value-added score, which compares students’ degree results with their entry qualifications to show how effectively they have been taught, and 10th for satisfaction with teaching.
The Guardian league table focuses on the quality of teaching, student satisfaction and employability. Compiled by independent company Intelligent Metrix, the guide ranks universities according to: spending per student; the student/staff ratio; graduate career prospects; what grades applicants need to get a place; the value-added score; and how satisfied final-year students are with their course, based on results from the annual NSS. The rankings also contain a continuation score based on the percentage of first-year students continuing to a second year. The overall Guardian league table is accompanied by subject rankings, showing how universities perform across 54 areas of study.
Professor Steve West, Vice-Chancellor at UWE Bristol, said:
“I’m so proud to be continuing our steady rise through the Guardian University Guide rankings this year, and it’s even more meaningful given that it’s partly due to our students giving us our highest ever student satisfaction result in the National Student Survey. This rise is a real reflection of the scale of our ambitions for the future, including further investment in services and facilities across all our campuses.
“This is an absolutely fantastic achievement for our University and is a real testament to all of our incredibly hard-working and committed staff, who always ensure that the student experience is at the heart of everything we do.”
The below blog post has been co-authored by Edina Opoczki (BA International Business student) and Hayley Iovannelli- International Recruitment Manager for the Faculty of Business and Law.
Hi! My name is Edina and I’m currently studying the International Business programme here, at UWE Bristol. Now I’m in my final year, I decided to continue my studies overseas as part of the ‘Study Abroad’ scheme. I chose to study at one of UWE’s partner institutions (ESSCA) as it provided me with the opportunity to study in two countries; Angers (a city in western France, about 300 km (190 mi) southwest of Paris) and I’m currently in Shanghai, China.
It has been an interesting journey so far, and I wanted to share my experiences to help anyone who may be thinking about doing this.
Things I now know (that I did not know before)
I spent a lot of time researching the institution and the area in France and China. But, as I discovered, there’s always more you can and should do!
Here are my top tips:
Try to learn a bit of the language before you go – not everyone will speak English and if you can speak even the basics this will really help. And your language skills will evolve as you’ll have lots of opportunities to speak with other students.
Find out
about the local amenities and services – I needed a dentist quite urgently
when I was in France and it just wasn’t something I’d considered before, so
well worth finding out about local English speaking amenities
Work out
your budget – some areas are more cost effective than others so it’s worth
scoping out the different places to live and eat
Reach out
and speak to students who have done this before – they can give you
valuable information about what to expect, places to visit to really make the
most out of your time there
Be prepared for the cultural differences – find out the basics about how you should meet and greet people, restaurant etiquette, tipping etc. as each country is different
Enjoy
yourself! – take every opportunity to explore, discover, practice the
language and make the most of it!
Things I wish I had done differently
While I was in Angers during my first semester, I felt like I was missing out on the opportunity to make close friendships with the other international students because I found my accommodation privately rather than staying in the dormitory where most of the students were. On the other hand, in terms of money – value proposition, my room seemed to be the better option and that is why I choose it in the end.
When preparing to head out to Shanghai, the only thing I wish I had done even more before arriving was saving up money for travelling around the country. Life in Shanghai is more expensive than in Bristol so be prepared. Travelling around this huge country is costly and time-consuming because of the distances so I would advise everyone planning to study in Shanghai to save up as much as you can.
Why France and China?
The reason why I chose France to study is because I wanted to make sure I can build more international experience through my ‘Year Abroad’ scheme and France just seemed to be one of the perfect locations to do so. My goal was to live in a country which is a founding member of the EU and is totally different from the UK in terms of culture.
China has always been one of those destinations I have been dreaming about ever since I was a child. When I found out ESSCA has a campus in Shanghai I was beyond happy. China for me is the Rome of business world where all businesses leads to China. Because of the nature of my international business studies, I wanted to further build my experiences in a country taking a lead of newness, innovation and world trade.
How do I find my way around in Shanghai?
Before I came to China, I already downloaded multiple apps on
my phone, saved all important addresses both in English and Chinese, made sure
I always had a copy of UWE Travel Insurance on my phone and I already
familiarized myself with the metro lines. There are several websites and apps
you can take advantage of, and these are the ones that I found to be the most
helpful:
TripAdvisor
(guidance when visiting other cities)
Bon App!
(like TA but more complex with local metro map)
SmartShanghai
(detailed list of services, shops, information about SH)
Moovit
(navigation app)
Sherpa’s
(food delivery)
Epermarket
(online supermarket for Western style grocery shopping)
This list is not full and there are many other apps and websites available.
How did I develop personally and professionally during
‘Study Abroad’?
‘Study Year Abroad’ allows me to further extend my knowledge and experience on the following topics: cross-cultural management, international human resources, international marketing, artificial intelligence, the energy sector, old and contemporary European and Chinese history and politics, the European Union, French and Chinese languages, doing business in China and many more.
As well as personal development, I have gained and further extended my academic skills and abilities. Both France and China have prepared me to take on the next challenges. I believe, with cultural awareness my ability to adapt to change of circumstances and openness for newness has prepared me to gain new experiences and makes me brave enough to apply for international jobs in the future.
We were delighted to be finalists at this year’s Guardian University Awards but are over the moon to have actually won! This award means so much to everyone who’s been involved in developing and delivering the Equity Programme ever since our first pilot event in October 2016. It’s been a long and sometimes challenging journey to introduce a progressive positive action scheme like this. Working with students, local employers and national diversity thought leaders, we’ve created something which the University can be really proud of and which offers BAME students a chance to leverage leadership and enterprise skills as they embark upon their graduate careers.
The Equity programme has 4 pillars: 1-2-1 mentoring, identity and leadership coaching, enterprise education workshops and large evening networking and guest speaker events. National statistics on the performance and progression of ethnic minorities in the labour market (as highlighted by the MacGregor Smith Race in the Workplace Review 2017) have to change and we are proud to be leading the way on the role universities can play in this regard. Finally, we want to thank every facilitator and the external guests who attend our events and enrich our student experience.
Equity evening events run throughout the academic year and are open to the public to attend. We warmly encourage alumni to consider attending the evening events to give our students networking opportunities as well as being part of the collective challenge to diversify the talent pipeline. To find out more please visit www.uwe.ac.uk/equityor email raceequality@uwe.ac.uk
Post written by Dr Zainab Khan- Equity Programme Lead
S4G (Scale Up 4 Growth), a brand new programme that launched mid-November, brings together experts from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), NatWest and law firm Foot Anstey, to deliver grant funding and relevant, high quality support and training to West of England businesses with ambitious growth plans.
The scheme is open to businesses in any sector that want to grow and scale up their business. Applicants must be small or medium sized enterprises and based in Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset or South Gloucestershire.
Grants of £10,000 to £40,000 are available to help address the challenges that West of England businesses face when growing and scaling up their operations. The grants will cover 37.5% of growth projects’ costs.
From January, leadership and business experts from UWE Bristol, as well as legal and finance professionals from Foot Anstey and NatWest will conduct a series of fully funded workshops and provide targeted support through one-to-one sessions. These workshops and one-to-ones will help businesses address the challenges they face in growing or ‘scaling up’, such as how to increase leadership capacity, finding a talented workforce, increasing sales, expanding infrastructure and accessing finance.
Robin Halpenny, who leads the S4G programme at UWE Bristol said: “S4G is an exciting and unique offering for businesses, as it is rare to find a scheme that offers one-to-one sessions from experts combined with workshops, as well as the option to get funding in order to grow.”
Professor Martin Boddy, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at UWE Bristol, said: “The scheme aims to stimulate the regional economy by helping successful, fast-growth companies in the West of England make that next step up, to realise their full potential and overcome the barriers to getting on to that next rung of the ladder in terms of growth.”
Matt Hatcher, NatWest Director of Commercial Banking in the South West, said: “NatWest runs the largest fully funded accelerator programme in the world and over the last three years more than 5,000 entrepreneurs have been supported by one of our 12 regional Entrepreneur Accelerators to grow and scale-up their businesses.
“In the South West this year, we’ve provided funding of nearly £3bn to SMEs and S4G is a perfect fit with the development of our scale-up proposition, which aims to help even more local companies. The partnership allows us to reach more businesses across the region so we can support them with the funding and sector specific help then need to grow their business.”
Nathan Peacey, Partner at Foot Anstey, said: “Foot Anstey has been on its own incredible growth journey in recent years so we really understand the challenges and opportunities that businesses face from our own personal experience.
Our team can provide insights and the right level of legal expertise across a whole range of areas to businesses when they need it.”
S4G will run until 2021. For more information and to submit an application for the scheme, please visit www.scaleup4growth.co.uk
