Weston College Make a Splash with work skills qualifications

16 employers local to Weston College spent a day in the company of 120 Construction Students last week.

Not unusual you might say?

However in this case the employers were largely Environmental specialists from organisations identified by the college as strategically significant to support the establishment of the Colleges new centre of excellence in Enviro-tech for the construction industry.

Working Knowledge organised and facilitated the event, which included recruiting the employers on behalf of the college.

Students gathered evidence during the one-day event to achieve the Edexcel Workskills Qualification at Level 1.

Andrea Greer, Executive Director College Service, said “Working Knowledge really delivered to our brief when recruiting employers who were real experts in sustainability and were an absolute pleasure to deal with”

The Vice Principle, Judi Harper, said…“I think it has been an absolutely fabulous day”

The local Weston Employers left with a very positive view of the college and the quality of teaching and facilities that the students enjoy.

Here are some comments from the local Employer’s

An excellent day which brings us back into contact with ‘raw’ material that will be taking our place in due course. A real life experience for us, as well as the students. Well facilitated.”
Alan Wade, EiC Ltd

“This was an excellent experience, to get involved in the development of the college students into the world of work.” Jon Gilling – Environment Agency”

“Well thought through and designed learning experience. Rewarding as a ‘business expert’, as I hope it was for the students.”
Jessica Harper, North Somerset Council

What did the students think?

Some examples of feedback collected at the end of the day:

“The practice involved preparation for the future.”

“Very well planned and gave everyone a confidence boost.”

“I don’t like teamwork in general but we worked well as a team and performed well overall.”

“It was a good event.”

Working Knowledge partner with over 100 HE and FE and specialise in delivering events that achieve employability and enterprise skills qualifications for students while engaging local employers.

In the past 6 years over 8000 students have been introduced to 1500 employers at our events.

To find out more about Working Knowledge please email Dr James Lott 07980 589427 james.lott@twkg.net with your questions.

Working Knowledge: Enterprise Training for Student Success

Barclays Take One Small Step Competition Entry – update

So many of our experts, partners and clients kindly supported us in the Barclays competition https://www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk/Entry/View/2474 and not just by voting but also with messages of support. Thank you to all of you.

Unfortunately we were not successful.  I know; it is their loss!

The £50k cash prize would have enabled us to unlock another 15 colleges to then be able to inspire an additional 5000 students every year.

In fact, now we have realised what an investment could do for us we have decided to look for a syndicate of small investors to help us on our journey.

So, if you know anyone who is keen to raise the aspirations and confidence of the UK’s young adults while opening the eyes of employers to the young talent available locally, then please do point them our way.

In the meantime, over the next 6 weeks we are introducing another 800 FE students to 100 businesses and planning more events for the next academic year.

Many thanks again for your support.

FLUX2010 Thanks to our great business experts

Emma Fleck from University of Ulster explains better than we could why your input as experts was so important – please take a look.

Barnsley College Make a Splash!

Barnsley College started the New Year with an energetic Splash. Over 100 students from Levels 1 and 2 took part in this one day event. Teams came up with 29 business ideas which they developed and presented to a judging panel.

This was a pilot event for Level 1 and 2 students engaged in a wide-variety of core subjects from Music to Health and Beauty, IT to Early Year.

The event was delivered by The Working Knowledge Group as part of the Nationally Award Winning Ride the Wave Programme for Further Education Colleges.

To find out more about Ride The Wave click here

FLUX 2010 – REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

FLUX is back! Now in its 5^th successful year we are delighted to announce we are now inviting entries for next year’s competition, delivered in partnership with Experian.

FLUX – the annual inter-university competition – is a proven way for your students to boost their employability and enterprise skills, meet top-class recruiters, enhance their CVs, improve interview skills and meet new people. Oh, and have a lot of fun too!
Over 30,000 students from more than 100 UK universities have taken part in FLUX, and it continues to go from strength to strength.

How does FLUX work? In a nutshell, teams of six spend 36 hours solving real business problems with experts from some of the UK’s most dynamic companies, judging them in Apprentice meets Dragon’s Den-style pitches and challenges. More than 60% of the students who have taken part were from non-business related subjects. FLUX is open to all who would like to challenge themselves and boost their employability skills.

What do they win? The title of FLUX National Champions 2010 and £500 cash each.

FLUX 2010 takes place on 29^th – 31^st March 2010 in the vibrant city of Nottingham.

If your University would like to take part then please let us know by 23^rd November 2009. You do not have to register your specific team members until two weeks before the event (12^th March 2010).

To find out more or to register your interest email us on FLUX@twkg.net

Bristol businesses judge top talent

City of Bristol College students have wowed judges from the local business community, in a competition similar to the BBC’s Dragon’s Den programme.

Around 500 students on BTEC Business and BTEC Leisure and Tourism and Art and Design programs took part in ‘The Plunge’ competition. They worked in teams to come up with their own idea for a new business.

The three-day event culminated in a session in front of judges from more than 80 local businesses, where they had to convince the experts why their group’s idea was the best.

Among the participants was Rafael Hayes, a BTEC First Diploma Art and Design student, whose team created ‘The Real Shock’, an idea to produce and market an alarm clock that emits a mild shock.

“I have a lot of respect for people who are out there making a living in business. I have seen how difficult this is and it has prepared me a little more for working life.”

Other ideas included ‘MDIY’, a new open-mic festival for Bristol, and ‘TruColourz’, a glass that would change colour when the drink it contains has been spiked.

One of the judges, Lynne Baber, Audit and Assurance Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, said:

“This was an amazing chance to share some of my experience and knowledge with the business leaders of tomorrow. It was inspiring to work with such innovative, creative and confident individuals.”

Nick McCloud, founder of Descartes, described the experience as “a jumpstart download of enthusiasm for us experts as much as for the students.”

“The competition gave students a real insight into the world of work, which perfectly complements the skills they are developing on their vocational courses.” said Ajay Sarda, Head of Vocational Studies at City of Bristol College’s Sixth Form Academy.

To find out more about the Ride the Wave programme click here

Ride the Wave – now for NEETs!

While Ride the Wave was initially designed for the delivery of standard programmes for Level 1, 2 and 3 students, it is sufficiently flexible for students whatever the programme they are undertaking. Having had success with E2E students at Redcar and Cleveland College, we were asked to pilot a programme for NEETs at Sheffield College.

As part of a week of activity for NEETs, they chose to integrate a Ride the Wave event. Based around the ‘Dive In’ format two teams of students undertook a days activity planning an event.

The activity was used to produce the portfolio for Working With Others at Level 1 and this was successfully achieved for 90% of those involved.

The opportunities for using Ride the Wave with NEETs are covered here.

UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER WIN FLUX 2009!

Flux 2009 was another hugely successful year for the national inter-university competition with 170 students taking part in the Grand Final. The University of Ulster triumphed, despite stiff competition from 29 other universities across the UK, to be crowned Winners of FLUX 2009 and to scoop the £3000 prize money.

Dr Cecilia Hegarty coordinator of the Ulster team said:

“The team worked tirelessly for two days on developing a social networking website with a difference. They concentrated on a not-for-profit business model which allowed travellers to backpack across the globe, receiving free accommodation in return for undertaking work tasks.The six final year students, Stella So, Leanne Leighton, Chris Halliday, Chris Cupples, Matthew Gray and Laura Tate demonstrated how they could apply their enterprising skills when exposed to the high pressure environment that is FLUX.”

The team greatly valued the support given to them from some of the UK’s top businessmen and women at FLUX and learnt a huge amount from pitching to 50 ‘dragons’ and an audience of over 250 students and staff.

Smith & Williamson Grassroutes Challenge 2008

Nine teams took part in The Smith & Williamson Grassroutes Competition 2008. Exeter University were crowned the winners after a tough battle with Reading University in the semi-final. A panel of experts from the industry where present all day to advise the students and judge the pitches at the end of the day. The 2008 experts included individuals from; The Crown Estate, HSBC Bank, Asda Wal-Mart, Warburtons, Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust, Smith & Williamson, The Grocer, English Food & Farming Partnership and Ginsters of Cornwall.

Will Merton Jones from the winning University of Exeter team commented;

“I think there was a strong sentiment in our camp that the Grassroutes Business Challenge was as realistic as challenges get. I personally felt that the combination of engaging case studies, the role of industry experts and the structure and fluidity of the competition made it a top-class experience for everyone who took part. There were times where it was necessary to play up the strengths of our business opportunity to the experts but I think more importantly defending the weaknesses of the business opportunity and attempting to find positives in the limitations of our proposition made the difference. I am wholly grateful for the experience.”

MMU Flux team march on to UK final

ENTERPRISING MMU students have won the North West final of Flux 2008.

MMU’s teams finished first and second in the contest between North West universities including Lancaster, Uclan, Salford, Liverpool and MBS.

Just as in TV’s ‘The Apprentice’ the teams are presented with a business idea and must sell it to the maximum before a watching panel of expert judges.

The day-long competition on February 12, saw the MMU students edge ahead in such abilities as business development and planning, financial management, sales and marketing, and communication.

The winning team, who shared a £500 prize, comprised:

Daniya Iqbal (Accounting and Finance), Jonathan Williams (Environmental Science), Jessica Glapa (Masters Marketing Management, Cheshire), Liz Greenfield (English and Creative Writing), Sam Reece (Advertising and Brand Management) and Natalie Sidwell (International Business and German).

They will now go through to the Flux Grand Final at Plymouth University on March 17/18 where they will compete with nine other regional winners for a cash prize of £3,000 and the prestigious 2008, National Flux title.

Sam Reece, from MMU’s winning team said: “This has been a fantastic day – and not just because we won! We’ve learnt so much about business, about our own set of commercial skills and about working together as a team – all of which will stand us in good stead when we graduate.

“Now we are just determined to go on and win the final!”

Jan Moore, head of MMU Careers, who facilitated the event with David Taylor, a senior lecturer in enterprise at MMUBS, said: “We’re very proud of the both MMU teams. They come from a mix of course areas – arts and sciences, as well as business subjects – and I’m convinced that makes them a stronger unit.”