The University of the West of England’s flagship £55 million business building has been officially opened by The Duke of York.
His Royal Highness received a guided tour of facilities at Bristol Business School, located at the University’s Frenchay campus, before unveiling a commemorative plaque marking the formal opening.
Offering a new approach to business and law education to benefit students and businesses in the region, the building opened to students and staff in 2017 and represents the biggest capital investment of UWE Bristol’s 2020 building programme. Features include two showcase law courts, a city trading room, a business advice clinic, an incubator for Team Entrepreneurship students, technology enhanced and flexible learning spaces, and an external business engagement hub.
On his tour of the business school, The Duke met students and staff from the Business Advice Clinic, where undergraduates work with mentors from industry to offer pro bono support to small enterprises, and the Team Entrepreneurship Hub, the home of a degree course dedicated to giving students the practical experience to launch and run their own ventures. His Royal Highness was also shown the school’s Bloomberg Trading Room and a Technology Enhanced Active Learning space during the visit.
Professor Steve West, Vice-Chancellor at UWE Bristol, said: “We were proud to show The Duke that not only is Bristol Business School a striking modern building with state-of-the-art facilities but what goes on inside is equally impressive.
“Students are using the hugely expanded provision of technology enhanced active learning for greater co-creation and student-led problem solving, while a growing number of businesses are being welcomed through the doors to collaborate with staff and our ever more entrepreneurial students.
“It is this abundance of strong relationships with industry that sets UWE Bristol’s approach to business apart, with close collaboration ensuring the skills our graduates leave with are always relevant to employers’ rapidly evolving needs.”
Addressing guests at the opening, His Royal Highness said: “It’s a pleasure to be able to open and celebrate a building such as this. A building lives because of what goes on inside it and judging from what I’ve seen on my tour, the vibrancy of the staff and students working here is making this building sing to a very wonderful note.
“I wish Bristol Business School, and the whole university, every good fortune in creating the sorts of young people we are going to need in the new environment we’ll find ourselves in during the next two to five years. These are going to be very challenging times but we need to create a breed of young people who are enterprising, entrepreneurial and ambitious. If we can do that we can, and will, succeed. So good luck, I wish you every success.”