In response to the principles of partnership and dialogue, Winchester Business School organises various knowledge exchange activities. These refer to research, dissemination and community engagement activities such as E-network, working paper series, organisation of events for and by the local business community, fostering a business angel activity in Europe, and hosting international academic research conferences.
- E-network
Winchester Business School along with the Winchester School of Arts is a part of the E-network, which encourages students, academics and the local business community to generate innovative and entrepreneurial ideas through networking, seminars and workshops. Local businesses can benefit from the engagement with the academic community and entrepreneurial spirit of students. The E-network facilitates links and partnerships between students, faculty and local businesses. This has resulted in consulting opportunities, action learning projects and internships for students.
- Conferences
The School regularly hosts international academic conferences including the European Conference on Enterprise Innovation in 2008, the Church Leadership conference in July 2010 and British Accounting Association Special Interest Group conference in May 2011.
- Business Engagement
Each year, Winchester Business School hosts breakfast meetings for the Federation of Small Businesses to inform their members of new developments in business thinking, including PRME. In collaboration with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Dr Karen Blakeley undertakes a project to monitor engagement of business leaders with not-for-profit sector. Dr Blakeley has organised a series of talks Leading in Tough Times to explore responsible management practices and workshop Courageous Conversations for Change that explores difficult changes within organisations.
- Working with Business
Students from our School have undertaken consultancy projects and internships with a wide range of local business organisations, including Motorola, Barclays, ROCC, but also many small and medium-sized businesses in the sectors of engineering, marketing, creative arts and recruitment.
- Business Angel
In February 2010, Winchester Business School hosted an event designed to explain the benefits of becoming a 'business angel'. Business angel investing is the most significant source of equity for early-stage businesses in the UK, with between £800-1000m being invested in SMEs each year. The Business Angel Awareness Raising event at Winchester was part of a regional campaign managed by Finance South East.
- Partnership with Logica
The School developed a two year part-time Foundation Degree in Business Management and Information Technology with a software solution company, Logica, utilising collaborative software from Blackboard Collaborate (Wimba classroom). The programme allows students to work and study with tutors from both the university and the company contributing to their learning process. The course is aimed at school leavers and first-time university applicants and is intended to develop young people with the mix of skills and knowledge required by the Company by designing a degree course tailored to meet the Company's specific needs, offering a mixture of academic study and extensive work experience. Work-based learning is a key component of the Logica-sponsored course.