UWE Business | Bristol Business School blog

Recognition for Engagement: HRM student from UWE shortlisted for CIPD award

Faculty of Business and Law | 19 August 2016

Author: Deborah Bishop, HRM Lecturer

We at UWE Bristol Business School are very proud and excited as one of our recent MSc HRM students, Cindy Fernandez, has been announced as a finalist in this year’s CIPD People Management Awards in the Outstanding Student category!

To be shortlisted, Cindy had to do some research for her MSc in International HRM that demonstrated how her studies have enabled an organisation to initiate and implement business improvements. Cindy was lucky enough to do her research placement with the employee-owned architecture and planning practice Stride Treglown.

In consultation with her host organisation, Cindy looked at designing and implementing a new employee engagement survey. I asked Elizabeth Kavanagh, Head of HR at Stride Treglown, what she thought the key benefits of Cindy’s work had been for their organisation. She explained that they had tried a number of off-the-shelf tools to measure employee engagement, but felt that these tools had not adequately tapped into the culture of Stride Treglown: “As a collective of highly qualified and creative individuals, the language of the survey needed to represent how we operate here” explained Elizabeth.

Cindy therefore approached the CIPD about using their employee engagement survey and the CIPD were very happy to share, allowing Cindy to take that as her starting point. Where Cindy added value was in tailoring that tool for the specific employee base she worked with at Stride Treglown. Cindy also conducted interviews with employees to establish how they felt about their organisation and its HR practices. This added to the survey data and led to Stride Treglown giving consideration to their feedback strategy as part of their efforts to keep improving engagement levels.

Elizabeth said: “We have regularly invited your students to conduct research in our organisation to further our HR strategy and keep developing our own practices. This has been invaluable in providing us with insights from an independent source with up to date ideas. Research projects have included our Performance Management Progress, Progression and Organisation Structure all of which have been very “applied” projects from which we all agree we wish to use the results. Cindy deserves recognition for the work that she did for us which will be used year after year as the foundation of our approach to measuring employee engagement. This approach is also going to be used by our alliance partners Todd Architects so Cindy’s work is not going to waste!“

Stride Treglown are important partners for us at UWE Bristol Business School, having hosted an MSc HRM student from us for the past six years. Last year they were so pleased with the work of Sean Peacock, who re-examined their Performance Management approach that they offered him a job there. It is fantastic to see their support for our students paying off again this year, when really useful work is delivered to them. As well as representing her own hard work and serious ability, Cindy’s place as a finalist in this award also highlights the importance of collaboration between the CIPD, us at Bristol Business School and organisations like Stride Treglown.

Well done Cindy! We will be keeping everything crossed for the Awards Ceremony on 27th September! Getting shortlisted is a fantastic achievement and everyone teaching HR at UWE Bristol Business School is cheering you on! !..and if you need a plus one, I’m never averse to getting glammed up for a black-tie event…

Cindy and Stride Treglown also helped us with this video about all our MSc HRM courses at the UWE Bristol Business School.

UWE Bristol awards an honorary degree to Lord Michael Bichard

Faculty of Business and Law | 20 July 2016

Lord Michael Bichard has been awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration in recognition of his service to Government.

The Honorary Degree was conferred at the Awards Ceremony of the Faculty of Business and Law on Tuesday 19 July 2016 at Bristol Cathedral.

Michael Bichard was born in Southampton where his father was a school caretaker. He studied law at Manchester (and subsequently social sciences at Birmingham) and began a career in Local Government in Reading. He became Chief Executive of the London Borough of Brent aged 32 and then became Chief Executive of Gloucestershire County Council. With considerable reluctance he left the County to lead the Governments Benefit Agency then responsible for £100 billions of public money. To his surprise he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Employment Department when that post was, for the first time, advertised publically and then became Permanent Secretary of the merged Employment and Education Department shortly before the 1997 Election. In that role he worked closely with the Prime Minister and David Blunkett to deliver education reforms which were the centre piece of Labour’s first term. In 2001 he decided to do something completely different and for the next seven years was Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Arts, London, the largest creative arts learning centre in Europe.

During this period, he also chaired the inquiry into the Soham murders; chaired the Legal Services Commission and the Design Council. He became the first Director of the Institute for Government in 2008 and is now Chair of the National Audit Office, the Social Care Institute for Excellence and the Shakespeare Globe. He was knighted in 1999 and appointed as a Crossbench member of the House of Lords in 2010 where he is now a Deputy Speaker. He had lived in Gloucestershire on and off for 30 years and is now settled with his wife Gillian in Nailsworth. He has had contact with UWE Bristol since he came to Gloucestershire and recently agreed to chair the faculty advisory board for the Business School. He has been an active supporter of Manchester United for fifty years and is glad to see the end of the current season!

UWE Bristol awards an honorary degree to David Relph

Faculty of Business and Law | 19 July 2016

David Relph has been awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration in recognition of his contribution to management and leadership.

The Honorary Degree was conferred at the Awards Ceremony of the Faculty of Business and Law on Monday 18 July 2016 at Bristol Cathedral.

David Relph is the Director of Bristol Health Partners. He leads the partnership and his role involves promoting collaboration and ambition between Bristol’s NHS organisations, universities and council in order to deliver significant health gains and improvements in service delivery in and around Bristol.

David has a first degree from Bristol University in Economics and Economic History. He has further degrees from Cranfield University and Kings College London.

After graduating, he joined the British Army and spent 15 years working in a variety of roles. He served on operations in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. He also spent time in Whitehall working on security policy and the development of strategy across a range of UK and international partners.

After leaving the military David worked at the Carbon Trust, advising the UK and other governments on the development of low carbon technology. In 2012 he stared working in the health sector, leading on strategy development for a Hospital Trust in Bristol. In 2014 he became the Director of Bristol Health Partners.

David has studied, worked and lived in Bristol for much of the last 20 years. Outside work, he was an early campaigner for elected mayors in Bristol and other UK cities, helping to deliver a major change to the governance of the city. He is also the Chair of Happy City, a Bristol-based organisation that campaigns for happiness and wellbeing to be taken more seriously in policy and decision making.

David says of his work over the last few years:

“My work is about connecting people and ideas. This is what drives me and I am particularly focused on the power of informal networks to share ideas, build consensus, and mobilise change.

“Throughout my career I have been involved in connecting people and ideas, then leading people through the changes and challenges that inevitably result. I have been lucky enough to get opportunities in two of the areas that matter most to people and the way they live their lives – Energy and Health. I am motivated by a desire to develop approaches that will transform the way we deal with these issues.

“I also feel strongly that the city is the level at which we must address many of the challenges we face as a society. In Bristol, we have all the ingredients for an ideal city but plenty of challenges that we have still yet to tackle. Through my work, I am trying to do what I can to address this, and to help others to do the same.”

UWE Bristol awards an honorary degree to Penny Gane

Faculty of Business and Law | 19 July 2016

Penny Gane has been awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Business Administration in recognition of her commitment to inclusivity and equality.

The Honorary Degree was conferred at the Awards Ceremony of the Faculty of Business and Law on Monday 18 July 2016 at Bristol Cathedral.

Penny was born into a Bristol family of furniture makers, known for commissioning the architect Marcel Breuer to design modernist furniture. When the family business closed after the war her immediate family hit hard times and Penny later won a free scholarship to the Red Maids’ School which was a charity school at that time. Girls cleaned the classrooms before breakfast, slept in large cold dormitories and wore starched white pinafores over their red woollen uniforms. Beyond the school gates the Swinging Sixties were happening.

Penny studied English and Latin Literature to Masters level at university and gained a teaching qualification. Her first job however, was in a residential hostel for troubled teenage girls in a tough area of Newcastle on Tyne. She returned to Bristol in 1976 and spent ten years teaching secondary school English and Drama.

After a career break to have children she joined Bristol City Council. Over the following twelve years she set up Bristol’s centre for sustainable development, CREATE, was a District Director leading on environment and community safety, and established and managed the Bristol Partnership to develop Bristol’s Community Strategy.

She then moved on to become Director of Public Private Partnerships with the Tribal Group developing large scale projects in Health and Education across the country. She subsequently co-founded a consultancy in equalities and human rights, building on the work she had developed with the Bristol Partnership and which aligned with long held beliefs in social justice. She also trained to be an executive coach and mentor.

During this time Penny acted as a non-executive director with NHS Bristol, chairing the Equalities Strategy Group and leading on Patient and Public Involvement. After this she became a board member of EME, a funding body of the Medical Research Council where she had responsibility for Patient and Public Involvement and was able to influence funding decisions by putting patients at the forefront of considerations.

Her consultancy was commissioned to establish a network of women in Bristol able to influence decision makers and tackle gender inequality. Working with women to establish Bristol Women’s Voice, she was herself elected to its chair a year later, a position she has held for three years. The membership has grown to two thousand and become an influential voice in the running of the city.

She and others persuaded the elected Mayor of Bristol to sign the European Charter of Equality of Women and Men in Local Life and he in turn proposed setting up a Women’s Commission which Penny was appointed to chair. The Commission has developed initiatives including the Zero Tolerance Campaign and 50-50 Women’s Representation. It is now a standing commission of the Council. Bristol remains the only UK signatory to the charter.

Penny was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts in 2015 in recognition of her ‘outstanding work for women’s equality’.

For relaxation and exhilaration Penny sings in a small chamber choir. She also tackles the Guardian cryptic crossword and reads voraciously.

First students on course which has become hotbed for start-ups poised to graduate

Faculty of Business and Law | 14 July 2016

The first group of students to embark on a pioneering degree course which has produced a flurry of new ventures and start-up companies are preparing to graduate.

Next week, the first cohort of students to join the Team Entrepreneurshipprogramme at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) three years ago will pick up their degrees at a ceremony at the city’s cathedral.

The course is one of only a handful of its type in the UK dedicated to giving undergraduates the practical experience to launch and run their own ventures.

An alternative to a traditional degree, students on the course work to a tailored programme to equip themselves with entrepreneurial and teamwork skills ready to launch their own businesses or become effective team players within dynamic and changing organisations. On graduating, many of the 35 third year students will go on to run their companies on a full-time basis.

Among the fledgling firms launched by Team Entrepreneurship students are:

· Crowdreach – An agency which helps entrepreneurs raise capital through crowdfunding. Formed by undergraduates Rob Wilson, Bradley Green and Will Dooley, the business has raised more than £135,000 for a variety of innovative products since it was established 18 months ago.

· Pelico – A healthy food delivery service developing meals using locally-sourced and organic ingredients, transporting them to time-strapped office workers by electric vehicle. The company – started by Leyth Hampshire and Alex Gatehouse – has been accepted onto the Seed Fund accelerator programme for promising food industry start-ups.

· Unique Insights – Uses sophisticated analytical software to help universities reduce their undergraduate drop-out rates. Two universities have agreed to use the system and another five have expressed an interest in the approach, devised by Jamie Rawsthorne and George Sanderson.

· Classic Bahnstormers – A business buying and restoring classic BMWs. Steve Curtis, the company’s founder, plans to open a dealership having secured premises in Gloucestershire.

Up to 60 students a year are now joining the ground-breaking BA (Hons) Team Entrepreneurship course which was inspired by successful methods pioneered in Finland and tested in Spain and Hungary. The programme’s undergraduates – known as Team Entrepreneurs – develop skills in everything from event and budget management to marketing, PR and graphic design.

Adrian Rivers, Lead for the BA in Team Entrepreneurship programme, hailed the course a major success.

He said: “Those that join the course come here because our Team Entrepreneurship is a radical programme suited to those that want to develop and practice entrepreneurial skills.

“Students put into practice the topics that they would learn about on a traditional business degree and their learning is embedded as they reflect on their experience with the support of a Team Coach and other University academics. When students are learning about marketing, they are actually doing it and when they are learning about finance, they are actually doing it.”

Mr Rivers said the students, known as Team Entrepreneurs, are actively involved in the running of the course which is structured to feed undergraduates’ creativity and strengthen their self-reliance.

He said: “The Coaches and other staff on the programme give huge amounts of support to the students, but we don’t spoon feed them. They have to spot the opportunities and make the best of the programme. That’s what entrepreneurs do – make the best of the opportunities around them.

“Rather than waiting in the classroom to be told what to learn, the students have to practise being self-reliant in order to be successful.

“What everyone says is the students on this course have a degree of maturity, self-reliance and confidence which is above what you would expect.”

Following the success of the degree programme, a master’s course in Enterprise and Entrepreneurship will be launched at UWE Bristol from September which will use the same methods as the undergraduate programme. Both courses will be based in the new £50 million Faculty of Business and Law building on Frenchay campus from December.

Of the new course, Mr Rivers said: “It will be a one-year programme based on the Team Entrepreneurship principles. It is ideally suited to people who might have a business idea they want to develop or who might be looking to develop ideas in the future.”

Former music teacher Steve Curtis, 31, founder of car restoration start-up Classic Bahnstormers, is among the students preparing to graduate from the course on Monday (July 18).

He said: “I had always bought and sold cars as a hobby, making a few hundred pounds here and there, but I wanted to make it scalable. This course has shown me just that – how to build a brand, develop a reputation and have people coveting your work. Throughout the course the support we have received from our Team Coaches has been staggering.”

Andy Francksen, founder of Target Student, which connects SMEs in Bristol with the local student market through a range of cost-effective promotional services, said: “The biggest thing that I have learnt on the course is the ability to work in teams. I have also grown in confidence and can now speak to anyone in any situation. If you go through this course your mindset will change for life.”

Those sentiments were echoed by fellow student Jasmine Sommers, who said: “I have found this course amazing. It suits my needs as I have been able to be flexible with my learning within a supportive environment. I am a much better team player now, a better listener and much more employable.”

Toby Bartholomew, who established innovation consultancy services company Creative Monkey Solutions while on the course, said: “I can genuinely say that I am proud to have been on this course. I am proud of the person I have become and I am proud of the team that is around me. I would not change the process I have been through.”

Faculty of Business and Law attracts regional business leaders to new advisory team

Faculty of Business and Law | 8 July 2016

Donna Whitehead, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean at UWE Bristol’s, Faculty of Business and Law has unveiled an impressive new advisory team of 21 regional business leaders.

The new FBL Faculty Advisory Board has been assembled to look at how the new Faculty and its new £50m building can serve the needs of the region and its economy.

Business leaders from the region’s financial, commercial, legal, public and health sectors are represented on the panel. They are:

Chair – Lord Bichard, Chairman of the National Audit Office

Barbara Davies, Former CEO – West of England Local Enterprise Partnership

Bonnie Dean, CEO – Bristol and Bath Science Park

Chris Nott, Senior Partner – Capital Law

Clive Hetherington, Ex-Area Director – Lloyds Bank

Dame Ruby McGregor-Smith, CEO – Mitie Group

David Relph, Director – Bristol Health Partners

Iain Lovatt, Founder and Chairman – Blue Sheep

Jason Sprague, Management Consultant – ASE Consulting

John Moriarty, President – Bristol Law Society

Karl Brown, Senior Associate – Clark Willmott

Katherine Bennett, Vice-President – Public affairs – Airbus

Keith Probert, MD – Viimi

Luis Garcia, CEO – Bristol Water

Nicola Yates OBE, City Director – Bristol City Council

Peter Rillett, Chairman – North Bristol Trust

Phil Smith, MD – Business West

Rick Sturge, President – ICAEW

Sarah Pullen, MD – Trinity Mirror

Simon Gibson, CEO – Wesley Clover

Vanessa Moon, Moon Consulting

Donna Whitehead, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law says, “We’re delighted by the calibre of our new advisory board and the leadership experience they bring will stand the Faculty in good stead to drive forward our new strategy to make our provision meet the needs of employers and ensure that we forge an international reputation for business and law at UWE Bristol.”

Lord Bichard, Chair of UWE Bristol Faculty of Business and Law advisory board, says, “To be effective universities must work hard to stay close to business; build strong partnerships with local and nationally significant employers; show that they value and respect the voice of industry and look for ways of making their knowledge and research base more accessible to business. This is a partnership of genuine mutual benefit.”

Students are set to benefit from state-of-the art facilities, as the new building for the Faculty of Business and Law draws a step closer to completion. With completion due for January 2017, the new building will include: two showcase law courts, a city trading room, a 300 seat lecture theatre, two Harvard lecture theatres, a number of smaller teaching spaces, IT suites, flexible social learning spaces, external business engagement space, central social space and café.

UWE Events Management students secure dream Glastonbury volunteer role

Faculty of Business and Law | 15 June 2016

Two students from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) have got a dream ticket to work behind the scenes as Events Operatives at Glastonbury Festival in the organisational hub at Worthy Farm.

Students Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Dimitra Dimitriadou, who are studying for an MSc in Events Management at UWE Bristol, have secured voluntary placements that will give them a unique insight into the running of the world’s biggest music festival.

The students will be involved in all aspects of the operation, including general office administration and support in Site and Infrastructure and the Licensing office. They will act as runners and help with phone and email monitoring, assist in the processes of co-ordinating plant, vehicles and site teams and provide direct support to key Glastonbury Festival managers.

Kyriakos is a postgraduate Events Management student, having already earned a degree in Music Technology at UWE Bristol. He would eventually like to work as an artist manager.

Of the two-week placement, Kyriakos said, “I’m from Cyprus and have never been to a huge festival before so I’m really excited. Having the opportunity to gain experience at a music event like this is awesome. As a career, I’d like to manage live events for bands. It’s great that I’ll get the chance to see behind the scenes and find out how things are managed at Glastonbury.”

Dimitra, an international student from Greece, started work alongside Kyriakos on 13 June. She said, “It’s a great opportunity and I’m looking forward to making closer connections with contacts that might help with my future career.

“My inspiration to work in event management stemmed from when I watched my Dad, who is a singer songwriter, perform at festivals and I was struck by the enormity of the organisation behind events. I researched my course very carefully – I have really enjoyed it and this opportunity is the icing on the cake.”

Dr Fiona Jordan, Associate Dean (External Engagement) in UWE Bristol’s Faculty of Business and Law, has worked with Glastonbury Festival for the past three years. She said, “Chances like this are all about putting theory into practice. In the events industry, learning through doing is essential and where better to do this than at the world’s biggest music festival? We are delighted to have helped secure such an amazing opportunity for our students to gain experience and to see what really happens at the centre of the organisation of the festival.

“In these roles the students will gain invaluable insight into the working of the biggest festival of its kind, before, during and after the event. They have a unique opportunity to learn and to prove themselves in a tough yet exciting environment. Events management is all about teamwork and making connections and I’m confident that Dimitri and Kyriakos will rise to the challenge and have a brilliant and rewarding time.”

Final pitch for business students at Enterprise Fair

Faculty of Business and Law | 10 May 2016

200 final year business students will take to the stage to compete for a series of prizes to highlight the best student business plans at UWE Bristol’s Enterprise Fair, from 10-12 noon this Saturday 14 May 2016 at the UWE Bristol Exhibition and Conference Centre (ECC).

The students will make a 30 second elevator pitch and take part in an assessed poster presentation to mark the final element of the Enterprise project, a final year dissertation module organised around the creation and development of a business plan.

Students have submitted business plans based around a wide range of business ventures covering everything from software applications to artisan food businesses, including a considerable number focused around sustainability.

Speaking about the significance of the Enterprise Fair, Bristol Business School’s Nick Kent, said, “The Enterprise Fair – which gives students the opportunity to pitch their business ideas in a public arena – really is the icing on the cake of the Enterprise Project module; a supervised dissertation module which sees students working up a business idea into a full business plan over the course of the final year of their degrees.

“This is the second time that we’ve run this particular event and we’re hoping to build on the success that we had last year. Students take away the ability to create and develop a full business plan – a very transferable skill which will be equally valuable in the private, public or third sectors. The business plan draws on and integrates knowledge from a wide range of subjects including strategy, marketing, operations, and accounting and finance. The students also gain an appreciation that you need much more than just a good idea to prepare to launch a successful business.

“In essence we believe that the Enterprise Project provides an arena to enable students to create and develop a unique business opportunity by synthesising ideas from their prior learning, research that they’ve carried out, and their own individual creativity.”

There are a range of prizes for the best projects, all generously sponsored by Peter Fane of Nurture Landscapes, an alumnus of the University. Prizes include Best Enterprise Project, Best ‘sustainable’ Enterprise Project and two prizes for ‘The Projects with the Most Potential’.

Students are set to benefit from state-of-the art facilities, as the new building for the Faculty of Business and Law draws a step closer to completion. A ceremony recently took place to mark construction reaching the top floor of the landmark building with completion due for January 2017.

For more information on studying at UWE Bristol, visit the Faculty of Business and Law website.

£50 million UWE Business and Law building is a step closer

Faculty of Business and Law | 4 May 2016

The new £50 million Faculty of Business and Law at UWE Bristol (the University of the West of England) is a step closer to completion.

The new state-of-the-art building will house Bristol Business School and Bristol Law School and is part of the University’s campus development plan to build a University for the 21^st Century.

A ceremony is being held on 4 May [2016] to mark construction reaching the top floor of the landmark building.

Simon Walker, Director General of the Institute of Directors and an Honorary Graduand from UWE Bristol will mark the occasion by securing a golden bolt on the top floor of the building on Wednesday 4 May.

The new building is located on the northern side of the plaza at the heart of developments on the UWE Bristol Frenchay Campus and is due for completion by January 2017.

The new building will ensure that staff, students and businesses have access to world class facilities and it will enable achievement of the core of the Faculty strategy: engagement with the business sector in the region.

Research by the Association of Business Schools and the Chartered Management Institute, shows that UK business schools and businesses, who are key employers of graduates, could benefit from closer working relationships. Businesses say they want ‘business-ready’ graduates, and key to achieving this are student placements and work experience which are a core part of the vision for the Faculty.

The numbers of UWE Bristol business graduates entering professional jobs within 6 months of graduation has been consistently ahead of the marketplace for business graduates. The latest data based on the 2013/14 Destination of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE) produced by the Higher Education Statistics Agency showed 74% of UWE Bristol graduates entering professional jobs immediately after graduation compared to a national figure of 67%, confirming the capability of these graduates and the underlining demand in the region.

Working closely with a modern practice-based university like UWE Bristol brings huge benefits for business and this new facility will foster formal and informal interaction between businesses and the University.

Simon Walker, Director General of the Institute of Directors says,“UWE Bristol is a great university with impressive international reach. It should be commended for investing in the workforce of the future. Access to skills is a major concern for IoD members, as shortages in key areas can prevent businesses from growing. Management, professional, commercial and entrepreneurial skills are vital to this region. UWE’s effort will create strong career opportunities for students and employees alike.”

Key professional organisations will have a base in the new building enabling barristers, accountants, small business owners and start-ups to mix with staff and students in the learning and social areas. Throughout the building there will be flexible workspaces available for staff, students and visitors to use.

Donna Whitehead Pro Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law says, “This will be a live environment where staff and students and business work together – with collaboration and collegiality at its core. We consult with our advisory board of key business figures who challenge us to make our provision meet the needs of employers and the latest developments in the business world.

“Our students are very enterprising – for example we have very successful Pro Bono work carried out by Law students offering free legal advice to victims of domestic violence and benefit claimants – resulting in successfully gaining £1m in welfare benefits for people wrongly declared fit for work. We plan to develop this model of Pro Bono work for a business audience – enabling our students, with supervision, to offer advice to small businesses on areas such as start-ups, intellectual property, HR issues, marketing and communications. These activities help us to be engaged with the region, and they benefit students by giving them live experience interacting with business owners and developers.

“This new building will enable us to deliver our strategy by providing a first-class teaching and learning environment comprising lecture facilities, teaching and seminar rooms, as well as specialist learning facilities such as a trading room, team entrepreneurship hubs and law courts. It will have spaces that encourage interaction and learning areas enhanced by the latest technology, as well as zones for all subject areas.”

Bristol Business School and Bristol Law School educate future professionals in all aspects of business and law – from entrepreneurship, management, leadership, strategy through to economists, accountants, marketing and human resources. As well as offering academic law courses they also train barristers and solicitors. They provide alongside this, relevant research into important business and law issues that confront both businesses and society.

Innovative new courses, such as the successful Business Team Entrepreneurship degree, enable students to respond to the challenges of creating their own businesses during their time at university.

The new building will include: two showcase law courts, a city trading room, a 300 seat lecture theatre, two Harvard lecture theatres, a number of smaller teaching spaces, IT suites, flexible social learning spaces, external business engagement space, central social space and café.

ISG is the main contractor for the project.

The University is currently seeking further funding from the business and alumni community to develop Technology Enhanced Learning classrooms to deliver the very best in student learning experience and teaching. At the same time this will give these businesses access to talented students and graduates, research and development.

Student shortlisted for £5,000 prize hopes to transform banking with virtual reality

Faculty of Business and Law | 4 April 2016

A student from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) has been shortlisted in a competition which calls on young people to help crack some of the financial sector’s biggest digital challenges.

Santander invited students and recent graduates from across the country to submit ideas outlining how technology could be used to transform the banking experience for customers in the future.

One of 13 entrants shortlisted for a prize in the Big Ideas challenge is UWE Bristol masters student Thomas Cottrell, who has developed a creative way of using virtual reality in banking.

The 24-year-old student on the university’s MSc Finance course hopes his idea can improve transparency between customers and banks, helping rebuild trust in the banking industry.

He said: “The biggest problem at the moment between banks and customers is that the general public essentially do not trust that banks are interested in the wellbeing of their customers. Even industry professionals estimate that it will be a decade before public trust in banks returns to where it was before the financial crisis.

“My idea is to add value to the way Santander staff interact with customers by helping the relationship to be founded upon trust. The specific way this will be achieved will be by making the process of dealing with Santander more transparent, and more engaging.

“By using an exciting augmented reality interface to make financial data come alive through a number of intuitive visualisations, customer and staff will find that decisions are made in a way that is clearly beneficial to the customer. The visualisations and financial models are so easy to use and understand that all customers, even those with no financial expertise, can feel that they are actively participating in their finances and can clearly see that what kind of deal they are getting.

“These kinds of models are very versatile, and can be made to work in branch and at home. For instance, as well as being used to talk someone through their options for a mortgage application in a branch, by putting the software directly into the Santander App, customers could use the process to make visualisations of their finances and financial planning right on their kitchen table.

“By being the most transparent bank at the point of contact with the customer, Santander can get a head start on the long road to earning back the trust of the public.”

Shriti Vadera, Santander’s UK chairman, said the competition was recognition that young people were often better with technology than their older peers.

The contest asked students to tackle challenges including semantic search, allowing bank staff to access customer information more quickly; digital authentication, ensuring online transactions are secure; and the incorporation of virtual reality into financial services.

Prizes of up to £5,000 are on offer for the best ideas, with Santander also looking to help entrants develop their proposals into solutions that could be commercialised.

The judging and awards ceremony will be held at a grand final on Monday (March 21) at Santander’s head office in London, where the winners will be announced.

Tag: UWE Business