Encouraging future leaders through professional Placement Years

(The Placement Conference Week 2022)

Completing a Placement Year can help students to gain key experience and tangible skills that will set them apart in the future and increase their capacities to become future leaders. Recent studies have found that Placement Years have a significant impact on employability in the UK, noting that ‘real world’ experience is seen as invaluable by employers.

In November, we welcomed 500 undergraduate students during a week of workshops, insight sessions, and panels with well-known organisations to discover such benefits of completing a professional Placement Year and how to be successful in their applications. This is an increase by over 25% of attendees from our 2021 event, highlighting how the placement route is becoming more popular across the University. In fact, in the Business School alone placements have grown by 50% since 2020. At the event, companies were welcomed back onto campus for the first time since the pandemic, with the week being ran as a combination of in-person and virtual sessions. To facilitate the event, a SharePoint site was created to house the schedule, company information, sign-up information and recordings of the virtual sessions. With both first-year students getting organised ahead of time, and second-year students in the midst of their applications invited to attend, the site attracted 2,351 site visits.

25% Increase of on attendees from 2021 event

Business School placements up

674 unique visitors 50% since 2020

8.69/10

Average rating of 92% of attendees came away with new knowledge

The week began with Faculty Placement Manager-led workshops, covering a range of topics centred around developing confidence, outlining the process for those considering the placement route, and covering the speculative approach. The international route was also discussed, with the option becoming increasingly popular among students as they seek new ways to expand their horizons, learn new skills and gain up-to-date international exposure. These placements allow students to increase their language ability and country and culturespecific knowledge, not only helping them to sell themselves in the global job market, but giving them a better appreciation of diversity, as well as stronger communication skills and problemsolving abilities, which is key in the increasingly international working world.

Tuesday and Thursday’s sessions were led by visiting employers from companies including Mazars, Morgan Stanley, Johnson & Johnson, L’Oréal and Samsung, who shared information about what they look for in applications. These talks provide great opportunities for students to get insider views on what the job market looks like as well as gain first-hand knowledge on the latest trends in the industry. Similar opportunities were provided on Wednesday, where we ran the Showcase Event. Representatives from Unilever, Oracle, BMW Group and more joined us on the balcony of the Calman Learning Centre for one-to-one chats, providing valuable networking opportunities for the students.

The conference was a great success, receiving an average rating of 8.69/10. Be it from connections made during networking opportunities or application advice received during workshops, the week was set up to help all students, regardless of how far along the placement journey they were. With over 92% having come away with new knowledge or awareness of their next steps, this aim was certainly met.

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Leadership programmes delivering Executive Education

Senior Leadership Apprenticeship (SLA)

Aimed at highly motivated middle-to-senior managers across all sectors, the SLA is funded entirely via the Apprenticeship Levy. This applies to all organisations with a wage bill of over £3 million and non-levy paying companies contribute just 5% of the course fee.

SLA Programme Director, Professor Ian Whitfield, discusses how the use of the apprenticeship levy is a route to levelling up:

“The Senior Leader Apprenticeship is an important initiative that facilitates the continuous development of leadership skills and abilities for participants both regionally and nationally. At Durham, the apprenticeship is delivered at the Business School, a renowned centre of teaching and research excellence. Furthermore, the programme provides an excellent opportunity for organisations to take advantage of the apprenticeship levy.

Many more companies could benefit from making good use of the levy for executive education and, in doing so, contribute towards levelling up in the North East and other regions of England. In the current challenging economic climate and rapidly evolving ways of working, there is clear value in using the apprenticeship levy as a tool to invest in lifelong learning and professional development. Importantly, a senior leader apprenticeship adds significant value to participants at many stages of their journey to senior leadership roles.”

We’ve recently expanded our Executive Education portfolio with the addition of two key programmes: the Senior Leader Apprenticeship (SLA) and the Nissan Tailored Programme.

8th

Online MBA programe RANKED in the UK

In addition to the apprenticeship qualification, we also offer a Postgraduate Certificate as part of the programme, giving successful apprentices the opportunity to continue their studies by completing our prestigious Online MBA programme (ranked 8th in the UK by The Financial Times). In June 2022, we welcomed our first cohort consisting of apprentices from a variety of companies including Sage, Hargreaves, LNER and Cummins.

Chris Riding, Portfolio Director of Sage Group and current Senior Leader Apprentice or SLA student, reflects on his experience:

“The Senior Leader Apprenticeship has been a real development opportunity for me, stretching my learning and helping me contextualise what I have been taught into my business environment. The course has allowed me to step outside of my day-to-day activities and test my understanding of the subjects taught in both an academic and practical way. I have been able to embed skills I already have, build on these with lots of new ideas, and apply them practically.

Strong teaching, face-to-face in Durham, in group sessions, has allowed me to learn from subject-leading academics and, as importantly, bounce ideas off a cohort from a mixture of businesses. The environment is academic, but relaxed, and is supported by a great team who ensure everything runs smoothly. Tutors have been responsive to questions and in providing support when needed both during teaching weeks and when needed during assignment writing. These experiences have given me the confidence to take ideas back into my workplace and apply themes and practice to work I am undertaking. This has brought value to the teams I lead and wider business as I continue to grow and nurture the skills shared.

Durham is a very reputable university, and their experience and prestige was a draw when looking for a provider for the apprenticeship. The team were really accommodating and helpful in getting our team onto the course and guiding us through the application process and I felt valued throughout. The range of resources available online make learning away from the University easy and is certainly an eye opener in its breadth and depth after all the time since I last studied!”

These experiences have given me the confidence to take ideas back into my workplace.

We recently welcomed our third cohort on 5 June 2023 and are currently accepting application for our fourth cohort which starts on 10 June 2024. If you’re interested in learning more, please get in touch: exec.ed@durham.ac.uk

Nissan Tailored Programme

In October 2022 we welcomed our first cohort from Nissan, with 24 delegates embarking on a tailored leadership programme.

Employing 6,000 people at its Washington site, Nissan has been a key player on the North East landscape for over 30 years and has become a cornerstone of the UK’s automotive sector. Its commitment to the region continues with recent investment in electric vehicle technology and a focus on internal development.

We’re therefore delighted to be able to support Nissan with this innovative programme that will develop their business management competencies, equipping their future leaders with the skills to continue the company’s exceptional performance. The programme explores key leadership themes and includes guest speakers from Nissan’s senior management team, giving delegates exposure to those setting the strategy and leading the business. Delegates take on a range of practical exercises, problem solving and reflective activities to ensure the direct application of learning in the workplace.

Claire Jones, Nissan’s HR Manager – Learning and Development, outlines why they chose to partner with Durham:

“We are delighted to be working with Durham University Business School to deliver a bespoke Nissan leadership programme focused on developing our leaders of the future.

The Business School have worked closely with the Nissan Learning and Development Team every step of the way to co-create a programme that meets the needs of our business and provides meaningful development for individuals that builds on their knowledge, skills and experience. The programme provides stimulating content in a dynamic, comfortable learning environment, with insights provided by leading academics who are experts in their field, alongside Nissan business leaders. My experience of working to co-design and deliver this leadership development programme with the business development team at Durham has been collaborative from start to finish. The result is a programme that provides our staff with a fantastic opportunity to receive firstclass development at a first-class university.”

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