Business of Education Briefs: University of Wolverhampton; Aston University; Aston Business School

University of Wolverhampton-led business project extended

A £1m project which supports West Midlands businesses in developing new products is to be extended to deal with high demand.

The University of Wolverhampton is leading a consortium of universities in delivering a support programme designed to help small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region that are in the early stages of developing new products.
 
The £1m Innovative Product Support Service (IPSS) project, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), has been granted an extension and will now run until December 2015.
 
Since the project started in early 2013, more than 100 companies have signed up to access the wide range of support.
 
The programme is particularly interested in businesses developing environmental, digital, electronic or medical technologies.
 
Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the IPSS programme, said: “Through the IPSS project businesses within the West Midlands area will have access to the expertise offered by four universities from across the region.”

Aston University bursary scheme helps SMEs attract qualified interns 

MORE than £250,000 is being injected into Birmingham’s economy with the implementation of a bursary scheme at Aston University.

Graduate Advantage has been set up to help SMEs across the West Midlands arrange graduate internships.

The programme assists SMEs financially, while supporting the region’s graduates, allowing them to secure crucial career skills by working within small, high growth organisations.

The scheme will support up to 300 graduates with bursaries of up to £850. The Graduate Advantage team will also be hoping to persuade graduates to stay in the region in order to develop their work skills.

Graduate bursaries for SMEs were first introduced in late 2013 and have already prompted some of the region’s smaller businesses to take on over 120 graduates.

Professor Helen Higson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Aston University, said: “Graduate Advantage is a unique service for our region, partnering many West Midlands universities in with businesses for the benefit of graduates. Fostering graduate employability is central to Aston’s ethos and we seek to bolster it wherever we can.”  

Aston Business School launches MBA for those made redundant 

A NEW MBA scholarship, designed to help people at risk of redundancy to reshape their future career, has been launched by Aston Business School.

The West Midlands Regeneration Scholarship provides awards of up to £10,000 for individuals in the region who have been made redundant or may feel their job is threatened by redundancy. This could be to develop extra relevant skills in a current workplace through an MBA or to completely change career paths.
 
Awards of up to £10,000 are available for full time students and £5,000 for part-time executive/distance learning students.
 
Professor George Feiger, Executive Dean of Aston Business School, said the scheme was designed for those who want to develop their potential by studying an MBA.

He said: “Aston Business School supports West Midlands based companies to grow and to respond to economic change. Sometimes this means re-structuring and re-purposing which is why we have launched the first ever MBA Regeneration Scholarship, targeted at talented individuals who may have been made redundant or who want to branch out in a new direction.”  

 

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