On 5 June, Our Business School Advisory Board held its inaugural meeting to with the intention of sharing experiences and helping the business leaders of tomorrow. The Head of our Business School, Andres Perez, gives us his take on the exciting first meeting and tells us what he found inspiring.
By Editorial Team. Published 19 June 2020.
The meeting was an opportunity for the members to get to know each other and for the external members to know more about The University of Law and the Business School in particular. The exchange of opinions was open and frank. Even for a first meeting, we received very valuable advice. Overall, there is a shared opinion that the result of the meeting was really positive and encouraging for the future.
We discussed the impact of Covid-19 in Higher Education, evaluated the response of the Business School and received interesting suggestions to explore new initiatives in the ‘new normal’. We also went briefly through the international and partnership strategy and left some final minutes to discuss how the contribution of the members could unfold in the next months.
Undoubtedly, noticing the engagement of the members and their willingness to support the Business School in different ways was particularly inspiring. Also, the narrative about their current and past positions. The group treasures a wealth of experience in various industries, countries and fields of specialisation, which will contribute to enrich the discussion and provide a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the future strategic directions of our Business School.
We received advice and suggestions, among others, about our market positioning, our website, and the format of our programmes (with a clear call to make them more flexible and accessible through dividing them into smaller pieces of learning). The members also shared their opinion about what companies will expect from business schools in the near future and provided information about some particular initiatives that we could explore further.
The introduction of our external members was the highpoint of the event. They elaborated on their past roles, the narrative that brought them to their current position, their personal and professional interests, and their expectations regarding their contribution to our Business School. Some are alumni, and some others are not, but all of them showed the same commitment and willingness to support the Business School over the coming years..
The members can contribute through a variety of ways, many of them having an evident value to our students. Among others, they will participate as guest speakers in our classes and events, will provide opportunities for internships and projects, will identify and liaise with other external speakers and companies for the same purposes, and in some cases, they may potentially offer employment opportunities, contacts or advice.
The board members will start receiving regular information about our activities from now on and we may liaise with them for specific events during the summer. They will be be kept up to date on the status of the initiatives we are launching aimed at the September start. In the autumn, once they know more about the Business School, we will hold the second meeting. This time, it will be entirely devoted to discussion of the most pressing and strategic questions affecting us. It will be a challenging time for the Higher Education sector in the UK and globally, so we will really appreciate their advice and counsel in that particularly sensitive moment.
I want to focus on two main subjects that stayed with me after the meeting. On one side, the evolution of the overall situation for the Higher Education industry and our Business School, trying to identify any sign of disruption as soon as possible and anticipate the most attuned initiatives to make an opportunity of them. Second, leave more time to discuss our international and partnerships strategy, try to identify new opportunities and prepare an action plan to support our current activities. However, in these times of change and relative uncertainty, it is difficult to foresee what the pressing issues will be at that time. What we are sure of is that the Board will offer excellent support to help us navigate those uncharted waters.
Read more about ULaw Business School Advisory Board.
