Issue 5
IN PARTNERSHIP
UBBS Network – Businesses working with schools By Christian Elwis, Final Year Journalism Student
School pupils and year 12 students had their business minds put to the test as the University of Bedfordshire Business School hosted two days of problem solving challenges. Run under the name of The UBBS Network, students from Barnfield College and Kimberley College were challenged by representatives from Vauxhall to identify ways of communicating their social responsibility policy to their employers, and their existing and potential customers. The day gave the students experience of what it’s like to study University courses in business and of working with people in industry. Toni Corrigan,
from Barnfield College, said: “Today I’ve learnt that even with huge businesses, small ideas can make a big improvement… this is good training for us.” The next day, Year 9 and 10 students from All Saints Academy and Oakwood School were introduced to David Blakeman, a director at Luton Town FC,
who asked them to suggest solutions to a very real problem of increasing the diversity of people attending their matches. Jacqueline Jack, from All Saints Academy, said: “I am looking to come to University in the future, because I want to teach my brothers and sisters to do the same thing so they can achieve something in life and do the best with what they have. I’ve really enjoyed it today.” Jodie Leigh, Graduate Access Fellow from the Access Partnership Team, set up the network alongside the Business School, and was delighted with how the two days went. She said: “The buzz and excitement from students working on a problem for a real company was great. It has been wonderful receiving such positive feedback from the teachers who are requesting to be involved again next year and with more students!”
Mock debate at the School of Law Summer School As part of the Business Faculty summer school, the School of Law made use of controversial issues to run a mock debate and discussion for summer school students. The topic chosen for the debate was whether or not this country should intervene militarily in the Syria crisis. The students were treated to complementary lectures on key areas of international law, jurisprudence and contemporary politics in relation to the perennial problems associated with the question of intervention of states
into internal conflicts in other states. The quality of research and the standard of presentation were amazing and the students who participated came out enthusiastic and challenged for further work as budding advocates, politicians and future policy makers. In a separate workshop, students engaged in a critical legal discussion. The topic related to the well-known 19th century case of Dudley and Stephens in which a court decided whether ‘necessity’ could be used as a defence against
murder. After students arrived at their decision staff showed the contemporary relevance of this case by considering one that appeared before the House of Lords in 2000 concerning the separation of conjoined twins. Both events encouraged students to engage in critical discussion of real, controversial and interesting areas of law providing an excellent forum for continuing outreach in nurturing the potential of the students to make impact in our local communities.
WINTER EDITION | December 2014
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