Enterprising Times Newsletter of the Faculty of Business, Education and Law

Transcription

1 Enterprising Times Newsletter of the Faculty of Business, Education and Law March/April 2015 Dr Katy Vigurs presents Tristram Hunt MP with the BERA manifesto for children

2 Page 2 Editorial Our strong working relationship with TAMK University in Finland, established and supported under the ERASMUS scheme, continues. In this issue Clair Hameed reports on her visit to a themed event at TAMK on universities working with SMEs. Jori Leskla has been over from TAMK for the last two months working with colleagues in the School of Education; we will feature his article in the next edition. Emma Davies (ECD) and I have just submitted a bid to the EU Strategic Partnership fund with TAMK as one of the partners (keep our fingers crossed); another partner on the bid is Newcastle under Lyme College. Thanks to Tom Ward for putting this issue together. Jon Front cover image: Dr Katy Vigurs worked on the British Educational Research Association manifesto with 3 other Universities over 18 months. The aim of the project has been to use the best educational research conducted within six of the BERA special interest groups to inform public debate prior to the Westminster election in May 2015, celebrating the work of the members and demonstrating how it can be used to provide an evidence base for policy that has issues of equality and social justice at its heart. See article on pages 5-6 for more information. Here she presents the manifesto to Tristram Hunt MP Shadow Secretary of State for Education. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter please jon.fairburn@staffs.ac.uk. Back issues can be found at Contents Editorial...2 Professor Iraj Hashi awarded Presidential Medal of Merit in Kosovo...3 Job opportunities...3 Alumnus Louise Holland wows Tourism and Events Management students Jon Fairburn...4 Election 2015: launching the BERA Fair and Equal Education Manifesto Katy Vigurs and Ruth Boyask...5 Tourism news...6 Mooting finals Jyoti Patel, LLB Law student...7 Distinction success in new marketing qualifications Angela Lawrence...8 Staffordshire University host internship for IDEAL Tempus project Ian Jackson...9 Twitter...9 School Education Gateway...9 Two current EU Lifelong Learning Programme projects: EcoTOUR and MARLO Gianluca Coppola, Eurocrea Merchant ANTICORRP project...11 Thirteen great keyboard short cuts...11 In it Together: the faculty s first Doctoral Writing Weekend Katy Vigurs...12 Expert Explains...12 Erasmus visit to Tampere, Finland Clair Hameed...13 Tourism students attend the Tourism Management Institute (TMI) Convention Events Management students volunteer at the Big Bang fair Carol Southall...15 Greenpad...15 Lyme Light Festival May Day bank holiday...16 Environmental accounting guest lecture Tracy Clewlow...17 Books and reports...17 Distribution of Enterprising Times...18 Notes for contributors...18 Re-use of material...18 Deadlines for

3 Page 3 Professor Iraj Hashi awarded Presidential Medal of Merit in Kosovo Professor Iraj Hashi was awarded the Presidential Medal of Merit in the list of honours awarded on the occasion of the 7th anniversary of Kosovo s Independence on 17th February The Medal of Merit is awarded to people who have contributed to Kosovo society in specific fields such as education and science. The nomination for this award was made by a group of staff from the Faculty of Economics, University of Prishtina and the Central Bank of Kosovo, including some of the former and current PhD students of Staffordshire University. The award is in recognition of Professor Hashi s work with various universities and research institutions in Kosovo which has resulted in improvements in the quality of academic programmes in economics, business and management and building the capacity of educational and research institutions in Kosovo. Professor Hashi was the coordinator of three large scale EU funded Tempus projects and a scholarship programme jointly funded by Staffordshire University and the Open Society Foundation (and until 2010 also by the UK Government s Chevening Programme). Through these programmes a large number of Kosovar Professor Iraj Hashi (left) and the Prime Minister Professor Isa Mustafa academics was provided with updating opportunities to learn about the latest developments in their subject area as well as teaching, learning and assessment methods in various EU universities. A large number of young university graduates was also offered the opportunity to continue their education towards Masters or PhD degrees in Economics at SU. These graduates, all of whom have returned to Kosovo, are now working in universities, research institutions, the Central Bank, commercial banks and various government ministries, contributing to the development of their country (two of these graduates are now serving as Minister of Finance and Minister of Trade and Industry respectively, and one of them is the Chief of the Cabinet and Advisor to the Prime Minister). Contact Iraj at I.Hashi@staffs.ac.uk or on +44 (0) Job opportunities Senior Lecturer in Marketing & Events Management: Lecturer in Marketing:

4 Page 4 Alumnus Louise Holland wows Tourism and Events Management students Jon Fairburn Alumnus Louise Holland returned to the university to provide an insight into her career in the events industry and to offer new opportunities for our students. Since leaving Staffordshire University with an MSc in Tourism and Marketing Management in 1999 Louise has enjoyed an 18 year career working at management levels in business strategy and marketing roles at a daily newspaper, international airport and premier league football club before launching her own communications agency, Holland Alexander, in Holland Alexander is delivering a number of high profile projects in 2015 and two based in the Midlands are: 1. The inaugural Venturefest East Midlands ( which she is planning for the next four years. 2. Launch and activation production for Resorts World Birmingham ( co.uk), opening summer Louise offered paid work opportunities to students to work on these two projects and she is currently looking through CVs. Final year student Hannah Mannion said, Louise s story was really inspiring; she proved that even though life doesn t always go as you planned, you create your own path to success. She was actually my inspiration to apply for a masters course. Professor Jon Fairburn said, I was so pleased to get Louise in; she is such a good role model and a great ambassador for our university. I am looking forward to developing more work-based learning opportunities with her for our students. Louise added, It was a wonderful experience to return to my university where my ambition to build a successful career began nearly two decades ago. I was inspired by the students I met at the lecture. I am delighted to be developing a business relationship with Staffordshire University and nurturing their student talent to dream big. I look forward to working with their students with my agency providing events opportunities on nationally recognised projects. For more information go to For more details on our courses in Events Management and Tourism Management see

5 Page 5 Election 2015: launching the BERA Fair and Equal Education Manifesto Katy Vigurs and Ruth Boyask On 10th March 2015 the British Educational Research Association (BERA) launched the Fair and Equal Education Manifesto at a large public event in London. This is the culmination of the work of its Respecting Children and Young People project. Since September 2013 members from six special interest groups (SIGs) have been drawing together educational research that helps to address the challenges of global change and widening social inequalities that diminish the lives of many children and young people. The six SIGs involved represent hundreds of educational researchers and professionals who share a commitment to using the extensive evidence-base on educational inequalities to inform public debate and include in discussions on educational policy. The purpose of this project was to step aside from the documentation of inequality, and instead draw upon our research to help inject a discourse of hope into discussions on education policy. The manifesto we have developed makes recommendations about how the Government, educators and the wider public can work towards a more equal society. We think, given the evident problems of our increasingly unequal world, that it is essential to reinsert the word equality back into discussions about the futures of children and young people, and recognise that we need to do more than offer ladders for social mobility to a few. A distinctive feature of our project is our commitment to developing policy advice that has a robust evidencebase. In our manifesto we highlight four guiding principles (underpinned by a number of possible actions), and recommend that future governments develop policies which promote: 1. Fair and relevant curriculum and attainment that leads to meaningful opportunities, like employment and further study; 2. High quality, research-informed professionals to work with children and young people; 3. Education that recognises and appropriately responds to the differences that make substantive differences in children and young people s lives; and 4. Education that is developed and evaluated fairly and rigorously, and is accountable to children, young people, their families and the communities in which they live. The public face of the project has been our very active blog, where you can now read 60 guest posts published since June 2014, which have directly contributed to the development of our manifesto. This blog has also attracted over 40,000 views from around the world.

6 Page 6 Behind the scenes the six SIGs have held multiple meetings of BERA members and guests, including a joint event hosted by Staffordshire University. We have had guidance and advice from our critical friends Professor Becky Francis (Kings College London) and Dr Carol Robinson (University of Brighton), and BERA Council Members. The editorial team has worked with BERA SIG members throughout the process. We think that through this process the document we present to you truly draws upon the best educational research to outline a clear and succinct vision for a fair and equal education that we think is imperative for a fair and equal society. You can download a copy of the complete manifesto from our blog at This article was prepared on behalf of the BERA Respecting Children and Young People editorial team: Social Justice SIG: Dr Katy Vigurs and Dr Ruth Boyask; Race, Ethnicity and Education: Professor Vini Lander; Sexualities: Dr Pam Alldred; Youth and Informal Education: Dr Ian McGimpsey and Janet Batsleer; Inclusive Education: Dr Jennifer Spratt; Practitioner Research: Dr d Reen Struthers. Contact Katy at K.E.Vigurs@staffs.ac.uk or on +44 (0) Ruth Boyask is Lecturer in Education Studies at Plymouth University. Tourism news Gradbach Hostel Newcastle under Lyme College is renovating Gradbach Hostel in the Peak District. More details of the hostel and facilities are available at Trentham Gardens is the UK s Garden of the Year Described as the garden make-over of the decade by The Daily Telegraph last year, Staffordshire s Trentham Gardens has just been named the UK s Garden of the Year in the annual BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards. The award comes at the same time The Trentham Estate has announced record visitor figures to its famous Gardens for More details about Trentham Gardens can be found at #Real Time TravelGuide Twitter and VisitEngland have joined forces to create a new platform called the #RealTimeTravelGuide. It s designed for smartphones and tablets, and pulls together information from Destination Management Partnerships and Tourist Information Centres to help people plan holidays, or find recommendations for places to visit and eat after they arrive. If you search by city or county, it points you to all the local Destination Management Partnerships and Tourism Information Centres. If you search by category, it pulls together all the tweets which feature relevant keywords. UK Government announces new strategy to support events Go to for more information. Local tourism apps Visit Staffordshire: Visit Cheshire:

7 Enterprising Times Page 7 Mooting finals Jyoti Patel, LLB Law student The Staffordshire University Advocacy Society, run by Ashley Patel (LPC), Melissa Phillips (LPC), Jyoti Patel (LLB Law) and Sarah Wilson (LLB Law), planned and hosted the internal mooting competition. Round 1 was held in November 2014 and Round 2 was held in January The Semi-Final took place in February 2015 and the final was hosted in March Rounds 1 and 2 took several weeks to complete, with participants mooting on a Wednesday afternoon in the Law School s mock courtroom. The finalists included Sheldon Guerra (LPC), Angelica Shannon (LLB Law), Saskia Samlal (LPC) and Keesha Sahadeo (LPC) (all pictured bottom left). Angelica is in the process of completing her first year at university. Sheldon, Saskia and Keesha are originally from Trinidad and Tobago, and came to study the LPC full-time at Staffordshire University. The case in the final concerned the law surrounding murder and duress. They faced a panel of distinguished judges, which consisted of Head of the Law School, Robert Curtis, Senior Lecturer, Lisa Mountford and external judge who sits in the Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court, HHJ Fletcher CBE. Everyone who made it into the final rounds worked incredibly hard and put on an impressive show. HHJ Fletcher CBE stated that he feels that all of the finalists could go far in a career as advocates. The mooting competition started with 18 participants from all levels of study. Everyone who took part worked incredibly hard and from day one the judges, lecturers of the Law School, have been impressed with the standards of advocacy that has been demonstrated. After the moot, everyone who took part was invited to a networking event where food and prizes were given to all those that took part, including lecturers that helped and those that supported the teams throughout. The mooting competition itself could have not been as successful as it was without the great amount of help from the lecturers that both helped to judge and supported us. The judges stated how close the competition actually was in the final. We would like congratulate the winners, Saskia and Keesha (pictured bottom right), who gave an outstanding performance on the day. We would like to extend our thanks to everyone that took part and helped with the running of the competition; we could not have done it without you.

8 Page 8 Distinction success in new marketing qualifications Angela Lawrence The first group of students to study for new marketing qualifications offered by Staffordshire University have passed with flying colours. The new Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) programmes, the Certificate and Diploma in Professional Marketing, were launched in 2014 following extensive research with marketing professionals and the wider business community. Each award consists of three modules and each module is taught over a 12 week period at Staffordshire University, on week-day evenings. The Business School is celebrating 100 per cent pass rate for the first module of new courses with a phenomenal 83 per cent of students passing with distinction. The awards are geared up to provide exactly what employers need, resulting in professionally qualified, capable staff with the marketing skills and competencies required to make a genuine difference to their businesses, said Angela Lawrence, the CIM Award Leader. Angela continued, We eagerly awaited the launch of these new CIM qualifications at Staffordshire University and are now delighted to see so many students studying with us and achieving so well. Nikki Bailey (pictured), a Staffordshire University graduate who works as an Events Coordinator at the Swan Hotel in Stafford, was top of the class with a 94 per cent pass mark. I started taking on more of the marketing and social media at work and this course seemed ideal. The prospect of studying for a new qualification can be quite daunting so to be able to take evening classes alongside my job is great, said Nikki. I d never done anything marketing related before and there are people from all sorts of backgrounds on the course so it s down to our course tutor, David Harrison, that there s been such fantastic results. He made it really enjoyable. Nikki has completed the first module of the Certificate in Professional Marketing and will continue with the Diploma next year, I m really keen to do the full two courses. This will open so many doors for my career and for the hotel. Students can now also study just one module and gain an award; the CIM Level 4 Award in Digital Marketing and the CIM Level 6 Award in Digital Strategy are each taught over just 12 weeks of evening classes for a stand-alone award. Contact Angela at angela.lawrence@staffs.ac.uk or on +44 (0) For more details on our CIM courses in Marketing see

9 Page 9 Staffordshire University host internship for IDEAL Tempus project Ian Jackson Razane Diab from the Modern University for Business and Science (MUBS) in Beirut, Lebanon visited the university as part of the Innovation and Development of Academic-Industry Partnerships through Efficient Research Administration in Lebanon IDEAL Tempus project. A programme was arranged by Ian Jackson and Tom Ward for Razane to experience the operational nature of a university research office in the UK with the view to helping in her work to set-up a similar one back at her home institution in Lebanon. On this visit, Razane was able to witness at first-hand how Staffordshire University uses its enterprise expertise through meetings with colleagues and teams in the Business School (such as Corporate Programmes and Be Inspired) and Enterprise and Commercial Development (ECD) (including the External Projects team and the Commercialisation and Intellectual Property team). In particular, Razane visited both the Stafford and Stoke sites to learn about writing-bids, searching for grants and collaborative working with other universities and industry in order to commercialise ideas to gain a greater level of entrepreneurship. Razane was able to look at business-related facilities at Staffordshire such as the Business Village as well as find time to visit Trentham Gardens and the Emma Bridgewater pottery. During her visit, she was also able to attend the Global Business Directions Conference run for the Level 6 Business Management Students by Isabel Clarke and visit the Creative Communities Unit. Razane said, Thank you for having me at SU, and for showing me around the campuses, taking the time to meet with me and organising a meeting schedule... The Internship was a valuable learning experience that I have benefited from both personally and academically. Razane hopes to put together a case study based on her internship experience. Further information about the IDEAL project can be found at Contact Ian at I.Jackson@staffs.ac.uk or on +44 (0) Twitter An ongoing list of twitter accounts at Staffordshire University can be found at The Professoriate blog for the University is at School Education Gateway School Education Gateway is the European Commission s new website for teachers and other education professionals and can be used to search for mobility opportunities and placements.

10 Page 10 Two current EU Lifelong Learning Programme projects: EcoTOUR and MARLO Gianluca Coppola, Eurocrea Merchant The EcoTOUR project The EcoTOUR project aims at defining a new qualification profile on the labour market: the Tourism Energy Manager. The project aim is to enhance the cooperation between vocational education and training (VET) providers and tourism professional stakeholders (workers, education and training institutions, relevant public authorities in tourism industry). The project is going to transfer learning methodologies and innovative principles from the secondary sector to the tourism industry in order to allow the development of new skills for a new job in this sector by developing the profession of Tourism Energy Manager. Eurocrea Merchant participates as partner in a consortium led by the Romanian North-East Regional Development Agency. The Europeanwide consortium is made up of: university foundations, research institutes, regional authorities, tourism associations, VET providers and energy efficiency associations from Romania, Austria, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Finland. The objectives of the project are : to implement the ECVET principles by formulating learning outcomes, design of units, templates for the memorandum of understanding (MoU) and learning agreement (LA) for the Tourism Energy Manager qualification; to create an e-learning platform to be tested within the consortium. This self-learning tool will be free of charge for all interested stakeholders and potential end users: teachers and trainers, managers and staff of hotels, pensions, restaurants, tourism agents, and manufacturers and suppliers for the hospitality industry; A concrete answer of the VET and ECVET system to the identified needs of the labour market, by elaborating the Tourism Energy Manager professional profile. The ECOTOUR project addresses a large number of potential users of the project results. The profiles and numbers of direct beneficiaries of the project target group are: 270 people from the following categories: managers and hotel staff managers, restaurants, travel agencies, manufacturers and suppliers in the hospitality industry, teachers and trainers; 180 people from institutions involved in training and educational policies: National Tourism Authorities, Ministries of Education, National Centre for Vocational Education and Technical, National Authority for Qualifications, National Councils for Curriculum, Sectorial Committees in Tourism, Agencies for Quality Assurance in Pre-University Studies, etc. The MARLO project More and more farmers and rural SMEs in Europe, struggling to survive in a rapidly changing agricultural and economic environment, appreciate the growing interest in local and niche products as a possibility to continue their activities. Although consumers seem to favour local, authentic and healthy food, they experience difficulties in accessing it. Part of the imports that currently satisfy the growing demand could be replaced by local products; however, the companies involved in the supply chain of local and organic food products need to become more professional and competitive. The MARLO project aims to improve the competitiveness of rural SMEs by introducing a Methodological Training Tool in Marketing of Local and Organic Food Products, and to encourage sustainable development of rural areas. The project is based upon the transfer of the results of LdV project

11 Page 11 ProudFarmer, successfully completed by a partnership of organisations from Latvia, France, Italy, Slovenia and Romania in An adapted training programme is going to be tested and evaluated in Spain, Latvia, Cyprus and Lithuania. Eurocrea Merchant belongs to the consortium made of up seven partners from five EU countries spanning north to south Europe (Spain, Cyprus, Italy, Latvia and Lithuania), including training and consultancy organisations, and associations active in organic farming and tourism, thus allowing a combination of different views and experiences, and achievement of the expected impact of the project. The main outcome of the project is going to be a Methodological Training Tool in Marketing of Local and Organic Food Products (training programme, manual, workbook, case studies, etc.) in Spanish, Latvian, Greek, Lithuanian and English. The primary target group of the project are rural SMEs involved in production, marketing and sales of local and organic food products. The project will help to significantly increase their access to training, improve their qualifications in the area of marketing and increase competitiveness. It will also contribute to the development of this type of business and to economic re-vitalisation of rural areas in partner countries. It is expected that after the completion of the project the results could also be exported to the other geographical areas of Europe. For more information about the EcoTOUR and MARLO projects, contact Gianluca at gianluca.coppola@eurocreamerchant.it or visit and Funded with support from the European Commission ANTICORRP project The central objective of Anticorruption Policies Revisited: Global Trends and European Responses to the Challenge of Corruption ANTICORRP is to investigate factors that promote or hinder the development of effective anti-corruption policies. For more information go to Thirteen great keyboard short cuts Note that these work with both caps lock on and off. Ctrl C - copy Ctrl V paste Ctrl P print Ctrl Z undo Ctrl X cut because it looks like a scissors Ctrl S save Ctrl F find Ctrl A select all Windows key (see the bottom left of your keyboard or similar) D minimises all windows so you can see the desktop (also works as a toggle function); Windows L locks the computer; Alt and Tab to move between open programs; When browsing Ctrl L will highlight the tool bar; Finally don t forget the PrtScn (print screen) key usually towards the top right of the key board this will grab the whole screen and you can paste it into a document with Ctrl V useful for producing handouts for software or websites that have functionality.

12 Page 12 In it Together: the faculty s first Doctoral Writing Weekend Katy Vigurs Between Friday 13th and Sunday 15th March 2015, we ran our first Faculty Writing Weekend for doctoral researchers. It was a lively and productive weekend that drew together 18 research students, across the 3 schools, who were all at different stages of their doctoral journeys. We brought in Dr Helen Kara to run a range of brilliant writing exercises across the three days. The participants particularly enjoyed the creative tasks that helped to put the fun back into academic writing. One of the exercises had us cutting up paragraphs that we had written on the Friday night into individual words. This then saw us kicking-off the Saturday morning by recycling our individual piles of words into quirky poems about our research. This was a short and sweet task but it got the group enthused about communicating and thinking creatively about their research. If you search the hashtag #StaffsAcwri on Twitter you will be able to view some of the spontaneous poems that were produced! Much of the weekend was balanced between writing exercises and time to Shut Up and Write. The Shut Up and Write sessions lasted only 30 minutes each, but there were several of these planned into the weekend, which meant for 6 hours of dedicated writing time for a room full of busy, part-time research students. The group was sceptical at first about how much they would be able to write in 30 minute slots, but after the first session they appeared to be converted and said that they will never again think of half an hour as being not enough time to write. One participant wrote 800 words in a Shut Up and Write session, producing nearly 5000 words of new writing by the end of the weekend. The participants were highly complementary about the weekend and how it was structured and organised. We ran it in the Alfred Bolton Room in the Thompson Library, which Dave Parkes kindly assisted us with. The participants appreciated the communal environment there was a picnic policy (shared lunch), for example and many were staggered at how enjoyable and productive they found writing in the same space as other doctoral researchers to be. What they particularly valued, however, was being able to invest in the development of their own doctoral research community. As well as getting some writing done, the weekend enabled participants to make important new connections and to share experiences and ideas. I have been asked several times already when the next one will be! Watch this space Feel free to read Helen Kara s blog post on the Faculty Doctoral Writing Retreat at Expert Explains Professor Rune By explains What the Game of Thrones can teach us about leadership.

13 Page 13 Erasmus visit to Tampere, Finland Clair Hameed Recently, Carol Southall and I were lucky enough to get an opportunity to visit the Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) in Tampere, Finland, on a one week teaching exchange with ERASMUS+. When we arrived for work on the first day, we found that there were 60 higher education staff visiting at the same time from 14 different countries across Europe, which was a fantastic opportunity to share some best practice in our subject areas. Throughout the week we did keynote sessions, interactive workshops and some very interesting study visits. The contents of the workshops concentrated around three main broad thematic areas high on the EU agenda: design of future services, low carbon economy, and digitalisation and industrial internet. I was there looking at entrepreneurship and this was one of the cross-cutting themes across the thematic areas, which was really useful. Across the workshops our purpose and drive was to identify key areas in which we could collaborate on in the future and identify possible funds to allow us to undertake this type of work. The design of future services theme emphasised the hot topics being discussed in many European countries at the moment, including ageing societies, promotion of social innovation and entrepreneurship, public-private partnerships and equality. In the workshops, we looked for new ideas for future services using a variety of service design methods with key words such as user research and engagement, open innovation and entrepreneurship, and business support of SMEs. The group came up with some great tourism ideas covering intergenerational holidays, including learning about the local culture in the host countries (including travellers own country) so that cultural knowledge and skills are retained. The low carbon economy theme debated options around environment, waste and water management, new materials, energy efficiency and renewable energy. We concluded that there is a need for holistic solutions to address this global challenge, ranging from technological innovations to systemic approaches. Germany was considered to be ahead of the game in this area and there was lively debate around the longevity of the utilising of solar power against other options. In the end the group came up with the idea of creating a simple database in Google docs with everyone s contact details and research interests of their local institutions so we can work together on future EU bids. If you would like to add any research interests to the list, you can do so at (login required). The third theme concentrated on the megatrend of digitalisation which affects most of our lives, not only as citizens and consumers, but also within industry and businesses. We discussed that industrial internet is changing the technological and business ecosystems of companies and SMEs, which now require renewal of strategies and business models, production and collaboration. We found that although the impact of digitisation is not new, the digital economy is entering a new age that presents unprecedented challenges especially for the business sector. Digital tools are invading the business environment, provoking significant changes in the way we work, communicate and sell, which has given rise to new opportunities and challenges, and is triggering a Digital Transformation. We looked at the research done by the MIT Center for Digital Business to see if we could utilise something similar to help our collaborations with the business sector.

14 Enterprising Times Page 14 In all of the workshops, we jointly identified innovative opportunities for the attending institutions to actively engage in making a better future, both for Europe and globally. The goal and, I think, the outcome was to find new ideas which could support/promote internationalisation and integration of education and R&D, as well as to facilitate collaboration and partnership with enterprises, especially SMEs. We also had chance to look at some of TAMK s amazing facilities and chat to their students who we found to be very positive and confident. TAMK works in a very integrated way with potential graduate employers by having students take on real world projects with industry as part of their courses. The effect of this strategy on their students is incredible they are confident, trustworthy, and have positive attitudes and great timekeeping; hence it was one of the big things I brought away with me. As well as a fantastic week of activities, learning opportunities and best practice sharing, I now have 60 potential collaborative partners across 14 countries all happy to work on joint European bids with us I highly recommend ERASMUS+ exchanges to anyone who gets the opportunity as there is so much to gain individually and for the faculty/institution. Contact Clair at C.M.Hameed@staffs.ac.uk or on +44 (0) Tourism students attend the Tourism Management Institute (TMI) Convention 2014

15 Page 15 Events Management students volunteer at the Big Bang fair Carol Southall Level 4 Events Management students Charlotte Rabey, James Shirley and Megan Wright volunteered for the Big Bang fair, the largest celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths for young people in the UK, held at the NEC in Birmingham early in March. They had a great time and impressed so much that they will be going back to work as team leaders on another event later in the year. The pictures are of the students, the event and also David Cameron s visit to the event. Ryan Johnson, one of the managers for The Big Bang stage at the fair, commended the students for their assistance in running the logistics of the stage. Contact Carol at C.Southall@staffs.ac.uk or on +44 (0) Greenpad A sustainable housing stock for students within the private rental sector which you will be able to choose from and rent using our website. Mission All students to have access to good quality, energy efficient student homes, spending less on their bills and reducing their environmental impact. All students will know how their actions are linked to our environment and how they can reduce their impact using simple every day actions. We re open Monday-Friday term time 10.00am-4.00pm. Come and see what properties are on offer; find us on the Stoke campus next-door to Squeezebox. Find out more on Greenpad at or at

16 Page 16 Lyme Light Festival May Day bank holiday Tourism and Events Management students will be volunteering for the Lyme Light Festival from 1st-4th May. Also, 3 level 6 students, Kayleigh Heath, Hannah Mannion and Rebekah Clarke, will be working on the Newcastle Jazz and Blues Festival at the end of May.

17 Page 17 Environmental accounting guest lecture Tracy Clewlow On 4th March Ann-Marie Cornall of Lucideon delivered a 45 minute guest lecture to the Accounting and Finance and Accounting and Business final year undergraduates. With offices in the UK and in the US Lucideon is a growing company and one of its many activities is the provision of independent verification and certification in areas of environmental impact such as greenhouse gas emissions, carbon footprints and sustainability reports. The cohort of level six students is studying a module entitled Contemporary Issues in Accounting within which we look at the growth of Environmental Accounting, the need for awareness in developing regulation in this area and the contribution that a proactive accountant can make to the sustainable future of business. Anne-Marie delivered a comprehensive insight into existing regulation within business, looking at both voluntary and mandatory requirements and how the adoption of a transforming attitude can furnish business with both reputational and financial benefits. Some comments received from the students: Michael Thomas I found the talk excellent! Well presented seems like she knows her stuff! I think I will be inquiring about a possible job there for when I graduate! Ryan Smith I thoroughly enjoyed today s lecture. I never thought I would be interested in environmental accounting but after seeing the difference Ann-Marie s company is making in the world and also how passionate she feels about the subject it is inspiring and is now something I feel I would strongly consider doing if the job opportunity arose. This is the second year our students have benefitted from Ann-Marie s real life experiences and I sincerely hope that she will continue to find the time to discuss the latest developments with us in years to come. Contact Tracy at T.E.Clewlow@staffs.ac.uk or on +44 (0) Books and reports McGettigan, A. (2013) The Great University Gamble: Money, Markets and the Future of Higher Education, Pluto Press. Eurydice (2014) Modernisation of Higher Education in Europe: Access, Retention and Employability 2014, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Includes case studies at national and university level. Available at

18 Page 18 Distribution of Enterprising Times The vast bulk of distribution is electronic. Within the University, distribution is made to all of the Faculty of Business, Education and Law School, the University Executive, Enterprise and Commercial Development, anyone cooperating on projects, RSS feeds and All staff Chat. Outside the University, Enterprising Times is sent to 15 international partner institutions throughout the Middle East and Asia (combined, at least 4000 business studies type students), partners on EU funding projects and contacts in Europe, contacts in the region (including media, members of Parliament, members of European Parliament, local councillors, chief executives, council officers, chambers of commerce, private companies, public sector organisations, professional networks, European organisations, etc.), and up to 10 groups on Linked in depending on the issue (regional, thematic, international). We are currently number 1 on Google when searched on the term enterprising times (out of 7.5million). We are also appearing on the front page of Google for a number of other terms. If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to the version of this newsletter please jon.fairburn@staffs.ac.uk. Notes for contributors Topics we cover a very broad range of issues reflecting the wide variety of interests in the Faculty of Business, Education and Law School. These include all aspects of business, innovation, enterprise, economics, European policy, global issues, markets, education, law and student experiences. Write about what you know and like best. Generally articles can be between 150 to 350 words. Try and include at least a profile photo of yourself or, better still, a good photo linked to the article. Photos should be provided as separate files in a high resolution format. Include the contact details that you are happy to have published and/or a website/blog. Shorter notices, e.g. funding opportunities, upcoming events, jobs, scholarships, etc. can also be publicised. Just remember to check our publishing deadline. All submissions can be sent to et@staffs.ac.uk. Re-use of material You are free to post the complete PDF version on your own website or to host it in any internal system. You may re-use any article subject to the following conditions: 1. If there is a name against the article then we expect acknowledgement in the format: Name, Staffordshire University Business School. 2. If there is no name with the article then just use Staffordshire University Business School. 3. If the writer is obviously someone outside of Staffordshire University, e.g. an MP or MEP, then contact them direct. 4. Note that we would not expect any selective editing of the article that would change the tone or meaning of the original article. 5. If you need the original photos then contact us. 6. We would appreciate where possible a link to either the specific issue or the general link to Enterprising Times which is Deadlines for th May 31st July 5th October 27th November