Context and Challenge
With development of new income streams becoming an ever-important focus for Higher Education Institutions, University of Derby commissioned Blueberry Training to design and deliver a pilot programme of commercial skills workshops aimed directly at academic and support staff across the institution. University of Derby employs 800 staff across two campuses to deliver further and higher education programmes to 15,000 students.
Objectives
University of Derby wanted a training workshop programme that would appeal to a wide range of academic and support staff with varying levels of commercial experience. The programme was to examine good practice in the area of knowledge transfer, using peer-learning and case study based workshops to consider such challenges as:
Programme
A programme of four half-day workshops run monthly from September to December 2006 attracted over 50 delegates from a range of disciplines and departments across the university. Individual workshops were themed:
Results
Delegate satisfaction over the programme averaged 82.2%. Satisfaction was measured against such criteria as whether their performance would be improved as a result of the workshop, the learning methods used, and quality of the content. Here is a selection of the delegate feedback:
"Enthusiastic and lively"
"Andrew is a very good trainer. Very interactive."
"Good deliverer"
"Practical exercise was the best bit!!"
Effect and Impact
“This workshop programme increased our awareness of how essential it is to engage with the business community, and increased willingness of staff to bring forth new ideas to turn them into commercial opportunities.” Ejaz Qureshi, Head of Regional Business Development.
What Next?
University of Derby and Blueberry Training are in talks to deliver and expanded series of workshops from September 2007 to around 200 academic and business development staff.
What do you do first? Developing a business idea, testing your idea, protecting intellectual property and insurance....
How to keep business records? What exactly is cash flow and how do you go about fundraising for business?
How to carry our market research, promotional campaigns and get your product sold!
