South Wales’ business community has gathered together to celebrate an innovative new partnership with the Cardiff School of Management at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC).
Demonstrating the Management School’s strong links to the business world, around 20 of the country’s most successful companies attended the sponsors’ reception, after they each agreed to sponsor teaching rooms and lecture theatres in the new £20m building, built to the highest environmental standards.
As well as being able to attend high profile talks and events and have preferential access to the School’s facilities, sponsors will provide guest speakers and good quality work placements for students.
These partnerships build on the strong links that UWIC’s Cardiff School Management (CSM) already enjoys with the local business community, from which both sides benefit.
David Pritchard CB, dean of CSM, said: “I would like to extend a huge thanks to the sponsors, all of whom have been handpicked for their commitment to innovation and excellence in their field.
“The partnership is about us all working together in the interests of students and, in time, the local economy. The more exposure and experience students have of working in top quality organisations, the better chance they will have of landing a good job, hopefully with top quality local employers.
“I am very proud of the new building which does justice to the talents of the fantastic people who work in it and the expectations of the present generation of students.”
The diverse range of companies and organisations that have chosen to work with UWIC represent the variety of industries that students have the opportunity to get involved with in the future. They include Cardiff Credit Union, Paramount, Admiral, Deloitte, ACCA, Vale Healthcare, Cardiff Devils, John Lewis and BT.
Professor Antony Chapman, UWIC vice-chancellor, addressed the guests at the event: “You find yourselves in a high quality building, surrounded by high quality staff – who operate high academic standards in their teaching, in their research and enterprise, and are energetic, innovative and working for Wales.
“I hope that our various partnerships will grow as we bed ourselves into this splendid new place.”
Cassie Houghton, from Cardiff Wales Airport, said: “We are delighted to be able to continue our successful long-term partnership with UWIC, and look forward to working together over another academic year and developing our partnership even further.”
The new Cardiff School of Management building, which has attracted students from more than 100 countries, has its official launch with guest speaker Lord Digby Jones, former director general of the CBI, on October 6.
UWIC has a long history of working with businesses. In Wales, UWIC already has more than 15 years’ experience working closely with more than 6, 000 organisations and companies across the nation, and has developed more than 500 products from conception to market-launch.
The university is also very active in knowledge transfer, having completed more than 30 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, both with SMEs and large companies.
With the largest full-time MBA programme in the UK, UWIC’s Cardiff School of Management has 3,000 students linked to its Cardiff base and a further 3,000 students in UWIC’s Associate College in London, as well as students in the UWIC Asia Campus in Singapore and many others in Kuala Lumpur, Dhaka, Casablanca, Marrakesh and Alexandria.
