Aberystwyth University Business School – The Future
Aberystwyth University Business School – The Future
Today I had a meeting with Nicholas Perdikis, the Director of the Business and Management School at Aberystwyth.
We discussed various points on where the school was heading over the next few years and what the aims and objectives were. It was a chance for me Rhys Gregory, a Second Year student to shares ideas with the Director.
The History
- The 60’s – This was when the school was first stared in the form of Business & Economics.
- The 80’s – The School marketed itself as Business Administration/Studies but realised that there wasn’t much of this and so opted for Business and Management School as this is what the school mostly does.
Aim of the School / Change
Apparently the school looked at two ways in which they could bring the course across to students, these being:
- Purely Academic Based Course.
- Hands on and Practically delivering the course.
Although they liked the idea of delivering the course practically to students as it showed students what ‘Business’ was all about, many businesses didn’t want students learning ‘one way’ and would prefer students that they could mould into their own practices.
Degree Change
The School has come to realise that there should be some sort of practical element to the degree and so they have already started making changes to the content of the course to try and do this.
- Management Skills & Analysis – I wrote an article previous to this about the ‘Business Game’ associated with this module, they said that last year (2009 Fresher’s) were the first set of students to do this module which allowed students to sit an exam putting everything they learned from other modules into one scenario. Followed by the end of year Business Game. Nicholas Perdikis said they were very happy with the outcome so far.
- Business Understanding (Research methods) – I haven’t done this yet but I believe it’s for second year students to do with market research in the local area, with option of working with businesses and developing a marketing plan. (I haven’t done this module so don’t quote me on this)
- Strategic leadership – I do believe this is for third year students, the school brings someone in during the second semester where they go through leadership methods. (Again this is the only information I have on it so don’t quote me on it).
Business Trips
Current:
- Second Year, Semester 2 – I’m not sure if it’s associated with a particular module but when speaking to the Director this morning he mentioned that during this time students will get to visit businesses and hear about their aims and objectives and how they cope with change. I’m not sure if they have done this already of if it’s something new.
The Future:
- We didn’t touch too much on this subject but I think although support can be offered by the department, a student body such as a Business Society would be the one to organise such trips.
Guest Speakers & Extras
The Business School would very much like to work with a student body such as a business society within the University.
- Guest Speakers - They’d want the society to look into areas of business they’d like to meet people from. It looks like we’d have to do our own research on the people that he wanted and invite them and in return the school would offer support, with potential of putting up guest speakers in a local hotel and even a meal as travelling to Aberystwyth could take up to more than a full day.
- Work Shops – This is also an area that we discussed in detail, with me mentioning workshops in leadership and communication offered by other Universities, Also the subject of the European Driving Licence was also mentioned.This is also an area to look into in the future with the Business Society playing a huge part in setting up and getting it organised.
- Business Games – I mentioned that Tony Orme, the Spin Out Manager at Aberystwyth University’s Visualisation centre had mentioned other business games such as in the stock market area. Again this is something for the department and the society to look into.
- Business Society Liaison Officer – The school would like to have someone in a Business Society to be appointed to keep in touch with the department with ideas and information on guest speakers and other events.
Future Meetings
We’ll be looking at a future meeting where we can discuss any progress being made.
I just hope we’re able to get things moving quickly to get these changes implemented before I leave University…
