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Business students attend Environment and Economic Scrutiny Committee meeting
Students at Bishop Grosseteste University recently attended the economic environmental scrutiny meeting to gain an interesting and enlightening window into the world of local politics. -
BG Futures conduct focus group with business students
BG Futures, the Careers, Employability and Enterprise department at Bishop Grosseteste University recently invited the Level 5 BA (Hons) Business students into the Centre for a focus group. -
Business students present Lincolnshire visitor economy project at QAA conference
BA (Hons) Team Entrepreneurship students Dan Spence and Sergiu Badea joined with students from University of Lincoln to deliver an online presentation at the annual QAA Quality Matters conference. Quality Matters is Quality Assurance Agency’s annual student-focused conference and provides an introduction to student engagement in quality assurance and enhancement, preparing student representatives for the year ahead. Bishop Grosseteste University third-year students Dan and Sergiu are currently working on a QAA-funded joint project that is carrying out research into the visitor economy in Lincolnshire, along with University of Lincoln Students Emilija Zavadzkyte and Iulia Poama-Covaki. Iulia is an undergraduate studying leisure and tourism and Emilija is a postgraduate studying digital marketing. Bishop Grosseteste’s Senior Lecturer in Business and Enterprise Chris Jackson and University of Lincoln’s Assistant Professor Georgiana Els successfully submitted a joint bid to QAA earlier in the year. Chris Jackson said: "The 'Team Academy" methodology used in the Team Entrepreneurship course at BGU has far more application that just learning about 'business'. “Instead of simply directing the project, we are team coaching the students using a model and principals of self-determined dialogic learning. We're not telling or guiding; we're curating the process." Professor Georgiana Els, said: "The thinking behind the project is twofold. Firstly, we do want to carry out research into our Visitor Economy and gather valuable data. However, we also wanted to think about how we could do this in a more meaningful way and instead of just involving or directing students in the project, we decided that we would recruit students to design and lead the project themselves. “In this way they learn not only to collaborate, communicate and share their own developing knowledge, but they also work on a 'live' research project that will help them to develop personal attributes and academic skills." The students delivered a 40-minute presentation to the QAA audience, explaining not only the project, but their personal learning journeys and experiences so far. They also outlined how the project will progress and details of proposed workshops. The project will run until July 2022. -
BGU lecturer explores The Ruskin Speech in new research article
A publication written by James Silverwood, Senior Lecturer in Business at BGU, and his co-author, Peter Wolstencroft of Liverpool John Moores University is now free to read on the website of the British Educational Research Journal. The journal article ‘The Ruskin Speech and Great Debate in English Education, 1976-1979: A study of motivation’ reignites debate about the intentions behind the intervention into educational by James Callaghan and his Labour government starting with the Prime Minister’s speech at Ruskin College, Oxford in October 1976. There is good reason why Callaghan’s speech remains lodged within the popular consciousness amongst educationalists, it been possible to trace forward integral aspects of the speech into controversial elements of education in England in the present day. Foremost among them been the concentration of regulatory power within a national body, Ofsted, the centrality of a national curriculum within educational provision, and the firmly link education with the delivery of employability. Consequently, the Ruskin speech is often conceptualized as a ‘turning point’ within English education leading inexorably towards the modern English educational system. As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of Callaghan’s Ruskin speech in 2026, it was time to engage in retrospective, something James and Peter’s paper achieves by critically inspecting the speech in the context in which it was delivered, rather than with the benefit of hindsight of knowing the subsequent trajectory of the English educational system. Conducting documentary analysis of archival material held in the National Archives, Kew Gardens, the authors conclude that the motivation for Callaghan’s speech at Ruskin College was to support the ideals of the comprehensive educational system, rather than institute widespread educational reform. This is in contrast to the common understanding of the Ruskin speech within English educational history as delineated above. Dr James Silverwood Speaking about his research, James Silverwood, said: “There is no doubt that the Ruskin speech is a seismic event in the history of education in England, but perhaps not for the reasons currently considered. “We found no evidence in the archives to suggest that the motivation of Callaghan and his Labour government was to implement widespread educational reform. Much the opposite, evidence suggested they were motivated to support and defend the comprehensive educational system from attack by political opponents who would seek to reform it. Where subsequent governments have referred back to the Ruskin speech as justification for educational transformation away from comprehensive ideals it to imbue the Ruskin speech with motivations that were not shared by Callaghan and his Labour government.” You can read the journal article here. -
BGU Senior Lecturer helps Hillsborough Football Stadium secure Asset of Community Value Status
This month Sheffield City Council announced that Hillsborough Football Stadium would be designated an Asset of Community Value (ACV) after a successful application by the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust. -
LORIC secures Business Support Project funding
Both projects focus on supporting small to medium sized enterprises to engage in research and development that will help them to grow, develop and innovate. A key aspect of the assistance provided via these projects is research to help to provide the information needed by businesses to move forward with the introduction of new products, services and processes. This may involve market research, competitor analysis or designing customer feedback mechanisms. Another important aspect of both projects is supporting businesses to use data more effectively. This can involve using data that a business already holds and analysing it in a way which provides new insights; or accessing new data sets that help to meet the information needs of the business. Through these projects, eligible businesses are able to access digitisation facilities to enable their businesses to become more digitally based and to unlock value from brand heritage by providing digital access to stored documents, such as ledgers, diaries or old photographs. LORIC Project Manager, Kay Purle explains that the support on offer can help to unlock insights that can help businesses to develop new ideas, create new products or services, or even create new business ventures. Support on offer is tailored to the business in order to help them to get the most of their involvement with the projects, and includes bespoke, one-to-one support as well as a range of both online and face to face events. Funding is currently in place to support SMEs in North East Lincolnshire, East Lindsey, Boston and South Holland. For more information visit LORIC | Lincolnshire Open Research & Innovation Centre (bgu.ac.uk) or contact the LORIC team at loric@bishopg.ac.uk. Both projects are made possible by funding from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. -
Lincoln Entrepreneurs are Tops for Building Business Contacts
A team of entrepreneurship students on a pioneering course at BGU in Lincoln has won national competition to build up business contacts. The six first-year students who make up IgniTE are among the first to study for a degree in Business (Team Entrepreneurship) at BGU. Teams from the four UK universities which offer a similar Team Academy course competed over 14 days during National Customer Weeks (20th October to 2nd November) to build up as many genuine customer connections as possible with a view to winning real business from them. The four universities are BGU, Northumbria Business School, University of the West of England (UWE) and Falmouth University. IgniTE, made up of Sophie Thomas, Dominique Salsbury, Matthew Potter, Faye Costello and siblings Raif and Jordan Mason, won the first-year prize and came second in the country overall. “This is a fantastic achievement for IgniTE which is the smallest in the competition with just six members,” said Elinor Vettraino, who set up and leads the new Team Entrepreneurship degree at BGU. “Even though this course is in its first year we earned 14 points in total, beating all of the other first, second and third-year companies bar one. Just six weeks into the course our entrepreneurs have already been making money, building a quickly growing business network and impressing everyone they meet.” IgniTE team leader Raif Mason and one team member will now get to travel to any of the other UK Team Academies for up to a week, where they will be able to develop new networks and collaborate on projects. Unlike other students, who attend lectures and tutorials, take exams and write dissertations, BGU’s team entrepreneurs set up their own businesses in order to make real money. All of the course assessments are directly linked to supporting the team entrepreneurs’ businesses. The BA (Hons) Business (Team Entrepreneurship) programme is also mapped to a Chartered Management Institute qualification so when the team entrepreneurs leave they will have a professional Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management from the CMI as well. By the end of the course they may have made enough money between them to send every student on a round-the-world trip for up to six months. They also learn about corporate social responsibility and in their third year they have the option to go overseas and support a social enterprise. To find out more about the course contact Elinor Vettraino by emailing elinor.vettraino@bishopg.ac.uk or by calling 07731489797. -
BGU's LORIC helping small businesses prototype new products
BGU’s Lincolnshire Open Research and Innovation Centre (LORIC) is organising a free prototyping event for small and medium companies next week. The event, which will be run by the Data Place, will help participants come up with ideas for new products and services, assess their viability, then come up with a 'prototype' to bring to market. It's a great opportunity for any company, including start-ups, that is looking to make a real change in their chosen industry or field. No special skills are needed, any company looking to brainstorm new ideas for projects and services is welcome. Katya Bozukova, Open Research Fellow at LORIC, explains how the day will work: “The trainers from the Data Place will take you through a complete process of uncovering needs and opportunities, generating ideas and building prototypes. “This is a hands-on workshop with a bit of theory; you will not only be supported in creating a potential product or service but you’ll also learn some principles and techniques to apply to future projects.” The free event will be held in the LORIC building on 23 Newport on Thursday 13 September. Places are limited, and are given on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information and to book your place, please visit the event page. -
Lecturer leads on behavioural diversity at European business event
Chris Jackson, Senior Lecturer and Team Coach in the Business and Enterprise Department at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU), represented the University at the recent Academic Adventures event at Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) in Finland. Traveling as Part of the Erasmus+ programme, Chris delivered two sessions on the importance of behavioural diversity in learning teams and took part in sessions that discussed how BGU use the Team Academy model of 'learning by doing' in our own BA(Hons) Team Entrepreneurship programme. The event was attended by delegates from across Europe who were keen to explore how self-determined or 'project-based' learning can be used in disciplines other than business, including HR, Physiotherapy and Teacher Education. This is in response to some academic institutions moving away from subject-specific delivery and embracing different models of learning. Returning from the Academic Adventures event Chris commented: "The response from delegates was very positive. This was largely due to the fact that delegates were able to hear first-hand from students and team coaches as to how the methodology is implemented and then acted upon. Just as at BGU, the process of the business course learning is that students have to design and run their own business projects - they're expected to earn as they learn!" "However, Team Academy methods aren't restricted to learning about business within higher education. Other disciplines may well want to explore business or enterprise elements, but then it's possibly more about adding value and difference than making money. "The way that this process works in academia is that projects are designed and executed by students in ways that address a particular issue. As the process evolves, they identify gaps in their knowledge - they discover what they don't know. The thing is, this differs from project to project and student to student, making the individual learning very relevant. As projects progress, learners are encouraged to underpin their experience with relevant academic theory - their experienced combined with their academic learning provides observable and assessable criteria." Finland are world-leaders in education and BGU have been using methodology closely aligned to the Tiimiakatemia model of business learning for four years. If you’re interested in a future in international business or in starting your own company, our business courses are the perfect path to take. You can find more information on them on our website or by contacting our Enquiries Team. -
Brewing Innovation: Roadshow Aims to Drive Business Success in Lincolnshire
In a bid to support innovation throughout Lincolnshire, businesses across the region can find out how to secure a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), funded by Innovate UK, during a three-day roadshow serving up free barista-style coffee and business advice. The roadshow is a collaboration between Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) and the University of Lincoln, UK, and will see ‘The Very Cool Coffee Bus’ visit several locations across Lincolnshire this March. Visitors will be able to chat with professional teams from both universities, find out more about the benefits of a KTP and how to apply for one. KTPs aim to help businesses improve their competitiveness and productivity through the better use of knowledge, technology and skills within the UK knowledge base. They offer an opportunity to collaborate with an expert academic team from either university which will support the delivery of a particular business initiative. Contributions are determined by the size of the business and the sector it belongs to. Bishop Grosseteste University’s KTP lead Linette Wallace said: “Innovation is the lifeblood of any organisation. Knowledge Transfer Partnerships offer robust support and can help to embed the expertise needed to make this happen. “We’d love to hear from any business if they have an idea to grow or make transformational changes within their business but don’t have all the in-house expertise needed to develop it, as a KTP may be the perfect solution.” BGU recently secured its first Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Lincolnshire Community & Voluntary Service (LCVS). The partnership will be worth £162,063 over a two-year period, with UKRI Innovate contributing two thirds of the funding. Lincolnshire CVS is a local charity that is dedicated to empowering the voluntary sector and promote the health and wellbeing of the wider community. The collaboration aims to enable the organisation to develop new and existing services, promote new business opportunities and effectively communicate the charity’s impact to its wider audience. David Fannin, CEO at Lincolnshire CVS, said: “This collaboration with BGU will support our core business development and our ability to communicate impact and the value of empowered communities. “Better still, it will help LCVS to do what we do best: strengthening the conditions that enable stronger, inclusive communities and empowered people. This is helping to foster the conditions for dynamic local economies that are key to unlocking prosperity, where people can reach their full potential.” The roadshow will take place over the following days: Tuesday 7 March Lincoln Science and Innovation Park 9.30am - 11.30am Sparkhouse, Lincoln 11.45am - 12.45pm Bishop Grosseteste University 1pm - 2pm Freedom Fire Security and Maintenance Ltd car park, Great Northern Terrace 2.30pm - 3.30pm Wednesday 8 March Aura Skegness Business Centre 9.30am - 11.30am Boston Enterprise Centre 1.30pm - 3.30pm Thursday 8 March Europarc Innovation Centre, Grimsby 9.30am - 10.30am. Visitors will also be given the chance to win a ‘One4All’ voucher by entering a raffle.
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