Hi {#First Name#}, Welcome to this month’s edition of our newsletter, featuring the latest developments concerning our courses in Architecture, Landscape Architecture and the wider University.
Come and visit us at an Open Day
Providing new employment opportunities As the University’s in-house employment scheme moves into its second year, there was recently cause to celebrate after a student employed through the programme last year became the first to progress to a full-time role with us. ‘OpportUNIty: Student Jobs on Campus’ was set up to help students find paid parttime jobs with the University in a variety of different posts, providing valuable experience of the workplace as well as the chance to earn extra cash.
Our mascot visits the Textile Design looms as part of the Open Day tour
To find out what it’s like to study at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, there is nothing better than visiting in person. On 7 December, we will be holding an Open Day to give visitors an insight into life here. Check out what some visitors said about our last Open Day: “Wonderful way to display a fantastic array of new facilities. I was totally blown away by it all. The accommodation is of the very best quality and I cannot wait to submit my application... Thanks to everyone who made the day run so smoothly!” “Before attending your open day, I had a set mind on not going to uni. But Birmingham City really made me reconsider the whole idea of university! Birmingham is a
BA (Hons) Business Law and Human Resource Management student Nazush Chohan did just that when she spent the 2012/13 academic year working as an Administrative Assistant for the University’s Human Resources (HR) department. The experience she gained proved invaluable when a full-time Administrative Support Assistant post became available in the same department in June. Her time on the OpportUNIty scheme gave Nazush a valuable insight into the requirements of working in a busy office
great city, with a great uni, and I would probably regret not going!” “I was very impressed and my son has put the course down as his first choice. Very impressive and really appreciated.”
From student to company director
Ruth Courtnell is now director of a landscape architecture practice
As company director of landscape architecture practice Barnes Walker Ltd, you might imagine that Ruth Courtnell always had a clear career path. But studying Landscape Architecture was not – at first – an obvious decision. “I was studying Electrical and Mechanical Engineering but wasn’t enjoying the course. I re-evaluated the subjects I enjoyed and looked to see what job I wanted to do. I put together art, design and geography and came up with Landscape Architecture.” Ruth completed her BA (Hons) in Landscape Architecture at BIAD in 1998, and her PG Dip in 1999. She secured her first role in June 2000: “I started in a junior role, worked hard for the practice, and was steadily given more responsibility. I also studied for my professional exams and became chartered after a couple of years of working. I became a director a couple of years ago.” Her advice: “Choose subjects that you enjoy, not necessarily the ones you are best at.”
environment, as she assisted with such areas as employment contracts, filing and payroll, and received ongoing support to develop her employability skills in 22 key areas identified by the University. She said: “When I was working here through OpportUNIty, I was supported in developing the employability skills I needed, and these helped me to put together a better application. It was great to be able to work at the University, meeting different people and building contacts, skills and experience, which would have been useful for a career in HR wherever I had ended up working.” The University’s Director of Human Resources, Angela Pocock, added: “This is a fantastic milestone for the scheme and it’s great that we have been able to help one of our own students, who studied a related subject with us, to take their first steps on the career ladder. “The aim of OpportUNIty was always to give our students experience that would help them to gain permanent, full-time employment – whether it was with us or elsewhere – and that is what has happened here as, through an open process, Nazush was found to be the best person for the job.” During the scheme’s first year of operation, students were placed in over 1,200.
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