1

Ashcroft International Business School Magazine|issue 3

www.anglia.ac.uk/aibs

MBACONNECT

Contents1 World Number Two

Snooker Champion AliCarter (‘The Captain’)offers winning tips toAnglia Ruskin students

2 KBU InternationalCollege, Malaysia –Celebrating 20 yearsof excellence

3 AIBS student short-listedfor business prize

4 The Needs of InnovatingSmall Firms andEmerging UK PublicPolicy Initiatives

5 Customer ServiceExcellence

5 Lord Jeffrey Archer tosupport students on‘Learning by Doing’module

6 Values-based decisionmaking: Leadership inthe UK Public Sector

8 Anglia Ruskin networksenterprising educationideas to Romania

9 Cross faculty collaborationresults in innovative newMasters Course

10 Special Interest Group onSpirituality and Teachingestablished

Welcome to the third issue of MBAConnect,and an especially warm welcome to our newmembers of the MBA Alumni Network, thoseof you who have just graduated and will bereceiving this for the first time.Congratulations!

I hope you enjoy reading this e-newsletter, which is puttogether just for our MBA graduates. We would love some ofyou to start contributing to this e-newsletter, telling us whatyou are doing or commenting on issues from your perspective.As I mentioned last time, this network will only work to its bestpotential if people get involved and participate. So if you haveany comments or suggestions please feel free to email themto me at alumni@anglia.ac.uk and put MBA Network in theheader.

Existing members will have received notification of someconferences and lectures over the last few months, and I hopesome of you have managed to go along. We will continue tosend these out to you each time the Business School advisesus that something appropriate is coming up.

We are also now working on the 2011 Annual MBA dinner,which will again take place at the Royal Over Seas League inLondon (just behind The Ritz) on Wednesday 3rd August. Finaldetails will be sent out to all MBA graduates once the mainspeaker is confirmed and information will also be posted on thewebsite, but please save the date in your diary now. For thosetravelling a long distance, rooms at the Royal Over Seas Leagueare very reasonably priced.

We have not forgotten your request for an MBA group onLinkedIn to give a further opportunity for networking andexchanging ideas. We have now set this up, so here’s the inviteto join. Just go to http://uk.linkedin.com/in/angliaalumni.

As I mentioned last time, please make sure you keep us up todate with any address and email changes so we can contactyou quickly and easily when we need to. And if you have MBAfriends who do not receive communications from us, pleaseencourage them to email us so they can be included in futuremailings.

That’s all from me this time. I hope you enjoy this issue. If youdo – let me know. If you have ideas for improvement, thenplease also let me know so that we can make sure we aresending you the sort of e-newsletter you really want to read.

Kind regards

Sue JacobsHead of Alumni Relations

1

World Number 2 Snooker ChampionAli Carter (‘The Captain’) offers winning tipsto Anglia Ruskin studentsFollowing a collaborative initiative first announced in thesepages, snooker professional and world number two Ali Carter inconversation with the Ashcroft International Business School’sJohn McCullough have been reflecting on the factors that havecontributed to growing success on and off the green baize. InAli’s view there are some useful parallels between the skills andmindset required to become a winner on the green baize, instudying for a degree, getting a job and performing in the worldof work. Ali states:

“With John’s help I’ve given quite a bit of thought to what ithas taken for me to get to where I am now, as well as thinkingabout how to do even better both on and off the snooker table.Whilst the journey so far has required a lot of hard work,application and reflection, there are lessons which I believeAnglia Ruskin University students might learn from myexperiences as a top five snooker professional, a qualifiedpilot and a business man.”

So what are the messages that Ali has been thinking aboutfor the potential benefit of ARU students?

“If you want to make it in any career, what ever that might be,you have to work at it. Nothing in life comes easily. You have to

put the hours in to create opportunities for yourself. The keysto real progress, as I’ve come to realise, is grounded in awillingness to be open-minded, to set yourself stretching, butachievable targets, and to commit to hitting or even exceedingthem. Much of the progress I’ve made in my snooker career isdown to a lot of hours spend on the practice table developingand improving my technique, break building and safety play.Such improvements ultimately derive from looking at myselfmore closely, the strengths and weaknesses in my game andthen working out action plans that could take my gameforward. As in many forward looking university programmes,action learning has proved to be a big help even though, beforemeeting John, I perhaps didn’t recognise that I was using it.”

Apart from making it to the world number two spot, Ali Carteris also a qualified pilot and in order to get his pilot’s licence,he had to study to pass theory exams as well as practical flyingtests. In short, as with some current developments within theAshcroft International Business School, Ali had to combinetheory with practice in a practitioner-led approach.

There is one other area where Ali believes students can benefitfrom his experiences

“Having my own performance coach, who from time-to-timehelps me with particular problems, as well as checks my gameover, I’ve found to be particularly valuable. Anglia Ruskin has asystem of personal tutors that could, if students are so minded,help them achieve much more. Learning in my book is primarilydown to the individual and how much you want to learn.With the right attitude and mindset you can takeyourself from being an ‘also ran’ to becoming ‘a winner’.I also think you need to enjoy what you’re doing.”

A unique opportunity for ARU students

“Getting a good degree and a good job is not just about beingreceptive to new ideas and new ways of thinking and working,it’s also about preparation and commitment to action, abouthaving self-belief and a willingness to recognise and thenwork to overcome any identified areas of deficiency. I’vebeen working on this with John and in the New Year we’ll beannouncing a new initiative which we are uniquely makingavailable to Anglia Ruskin University students – look out formy special Carter Challenge which has the potential to deliverappreciable student-centred added value and also will helpto differentiate students in a very competitive jobs market.”

To be a part of this exciting new initiative contact:

John McCullough,Pathway Leader DMS/MA ManagementE: john.mccullough@anglia.ac.ukT: 0845 196 6879

Ali Carter with the Shanghai Trophy following his victoryat the Roewe Shanghai Masters in September 2010

KBU International College, MalaysiaCelebrating 20 years of excellence

This year is a very significant one for AIBS partners KBUInternational College, as 2010 marks the year it turns 20.Since its establishment in November 1990, KBU has grown inleaps and bounds to become a provider of tertiary educationoffering quality, holistic education across multidisciplinaryprogrammes.

Its vision is to be a premier private education institution offeringmultidiscipline quality programmes at Certificate, Diploma,Degree and Postgraduate levels to both local and internationalstudents with the mission to provide the highest standard oftertiary education in a national and international context.

True to this, KBU has proven itself through the years with animpressive list of outstanding alumni as testament. KBU alsoprides itself on the high employability of its graduates andmany of their students have gone on to set up their owncompanies.

KBU also aims to make quality education affordable. Accordingto chief executive, Datuk Dr Teo Chian Lian, “We will continueto uphold this and fine-tune whatever we do to achieve it.” Inrelation to this he added, “We find that it is important to providea conducive environment for studying: hence we have movedto our current purpose-built campus.”

The current campus is impressively designed and fullyequipped with sports and recreational facilities on a 13-acresite. Future plans include the building of Phase 2 of thecampus which will have more hostels and indoor sportfacilities.

KBU will be celebrating its 20th anniversary with excitingactivities including a photography competition, a writing

competition and IQ marathon. A book detailing KBU’s journeythrough its 20 years will also be launched and a gala dinner isbeing planned.

Dr Teo says, “We are moving forward into the next stage of ourlife cycle and very exciting times.”

Dr Tei advises:

“Education is very important, particularly in today’sborderless world. It is a good investment thatgenerates good returns.”

AIBS looks forward to strengthening its collaboration with KBUover the coming years.

KBU International College, Selangor, Malaysia

2

Prof Dato’ (Dr) Teo Chiang Liang, Chief Executive ofKBU International College

3

AIBS student short-listed for business prize

A new graduate resourcing business in Cambridgehas reached the final of a business start up competition.

Power Resourcing – which specialises in placing graduateswith employers in the Cambridge area – was short-listed to thefinal six of the inaugural Step Up competition, run by SouthCambridgeshire District Council. The business has been set upby Alison Power and Duncan Allan, who both live in Cambridge.

The prize on offer to the winner of the Step Up competitionwas £30,000 worth of support to start their business, includingserviced offices for a year, PR, accounting and legal adviceand free membership of the local Chambers of Commerce.

The competition entrants had to submit a written summary oftheir business plan and were assessed on their creativity, marketawareness, saleability and planning and research skills. Thefinal event was held on 30th June at South CambridgeshireDistrict Council’s headquarters in Cambourne and saw the sixfinalists pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges in thestyle of popular BBC TV series, Dragon’s Den.

The winners of the competition were Rebecca Chicot and DianaHill who are developing One Stop Baby Guides – a series ofDVD’s to help new parents.

Alison, a student at Ashcroft International Business School,said: “Participating in the Step Up competition has been a veryworthwhile exercise and has helped us to hone our businessidea and focus on our objectives. We have had some greatfeedback from the judges, who felt that we had an excellentbusiness plan and are well on the way to making a successof Power Resourcing.

Alison went on to say: “We have taken the time to researchour market, analyse our competitors and develop our strategicmarketing plan. We are pleased that the potential of PowerResourcing has been recognised and are absolutely delightedto have been short-listed in this prestigious competition.”

It can seem daunting for graduates entering the job market inthe current economic climate, with some reports suggesting inexcess of seventy applications per job. However, positive signsare starting to appear and a number of employers have begunto increase their graduate intake in recent months. As well assupporting graduates through the recruitment process PowerResourcing provides advice on CVs, interview techniques, salaryexpectations and a range of other employment related areas.They work with graduates from a broad range of studydisciplines and universities to help them find rewardingemployment and develop their careers.

Duncan said: “Power Resourcing’s ethos is to be efficient,effective and ethical in all our work. We feel that by taking thetime to build relationships with our customers and fullyunderstand their needs, we will be able to provide employerswith talented, enthusiastic graduates that fit with their

organisations ethos, as well as offer genuinely rewardingcareer opportunities for graduates.”

Duncan went on to say: “Although we have seen a largelyemployer-led market, finding the right talent to fill vacanciescan still pose problems for employers. Power Resourcing offers aservice that utilises links with graduates across the UK and fillsvacancies across a range of sectors, meaning that employers donot have to deal with several different organisations or advertisein several different locations in order to find the right people.It also means that candidates can save time when it comesto applying for jobs, as we have existing relationships witha number of employers and can ease the process for them.”

Alison, who is currently studying part-time for an MA inMarketing & Innovation at Anglia Ruskin University, said that herstudies have helped her enormously with planning the business:“I have recently studied strategic marketing planningand marketing communications as part of mycourse, and have already been able to put mynewly-gained skills to good use in developing ourbusiness plan – especially for conducting our externalanalysis and developing our sustainable competitive advantage”.

Alison has a background in employment advice and recruitment,including two years as Graduate Employment Consultantat Anglia Ruskin University’s Cambridge campus, and hasalso undertaken a variety of marketing roles. Duncan is anexperienced sales, retail and IT project management professionaland also has experience of working with students and graduates.

Power Resourcing launched in August 2010 and is basedat St John’s Innovation Centre in Cambridge. To find outmore about their graduate employment services, pleasevisit the website: www.powerresourcing.co.uk or emailinfo@powerresourcing.co.uk. Alternatively, please telephone(01223) 524251.

Alison Power and Duncan Allan

4

The Needs of Innovating Small Firms andEmerging UK Public Policy InitiativesIn the current climate of new policy dynamics, it isuseful to remind ourselves of what needs to be doneto assist R&D companies to grow. Here Roger Mooreidentifies the sort of challenges innovative firms face.Roger Moore is a Management Consultant involvedwith the Anglia MBA and MSc Marketing andInnovation programme.

For further information on the article or the Masters programmeoffered by AIBS, please contact: U. Raut-Roy, AlumniCoordinator, AIBS, u.raut-roy@anglia.ac.uk

The disorderly and unpredictable character of the innovationprocess can never be fully mitigated, not even by even the mostdiligent of business support agencies. Serendipity rules OK!

Yes – but luck also comes to a prepared mind, prepared that isto manage the uncertainties of the innovation process. For, asRichard Lambert’s Review of Business-University Collaborationinsisted a few years ago, there are well founded approachesthat can be adopted which do practically help to alleviate someof the tensions and uncertainties that frequently prevail in thedelicate research relationship between big industry, academiaand the innovating SME.

So then, what are the areas of concern regarding barriers togrowth that are facing small to medium size innovating firms?Well to begin with, innovating firms’ access to growth fundingis being critically constrained in the UK (particularly whencompared to outcomes in the US) by a number of criticalretarding factors:

• There remains an absence of small business fundingschemes similar to the American SBIR;

• No DARPA type broad discipline defence sector typefunding prevails in the UK;

• There exists a palpable unwillingness on the part of largehigh tech corps to part fund equal partner status spin-outswith HEI research teams or with extant innovating SMEs;

• A tendency exists on the part of high net worth individualsto regard high risk/ low returns evident in innovating start-ups and high tech SMEs as a poor investment optioncompared to say property (one could argue that real estatemarket speculation “crowds out” commercial innovationin the UK);

• Unlike, for example in France, there is a lack of tax breaksfor Angel Funders (that helps to mitigate investor risk)

• And, despite AIM, weak exit route transmissionmechanism for Angels and VCs

• There also remains in the UK an absence of localinnovation financing banks, able to assist in the funding ofinnovation projects emerging within the firm, and, indeed,on occasions helping companies deal with a shortage ofworking capital, or in providing firms with a trade creditfacility.

Beyond the financing of innovation other factors can impedethe growth of specialist sectors and the firms that make themup. As stated, spin-out activity remains a crucial element in thecommercial market innovation mix, particularly where newentrants strengthen local technology clusters. So policy makersneed to recognize that HEI start-up rates may be restrained bythe lack of UK doc/post-docs emerging from major universitiesand discrimination against overseas scientists and researchersmay also impede the growth of innovating firms in the UK.

It is also true to say that, growth in the innovating firm canoften be stimulated by involvement in UK government or EUfunded research programmes. But completing applicationschemas and dealing with constant programme meetings,frequently dissuades firms from participating in these researchinitiatives. Hence, there persists a requirement for local broadbased innovation and technology focused helper teams: thesewould be created with a remit to advise innovators on grantapplications (be they from EU/FP7/8; TSB or funding councils)and assist with proposal writing (also, there is a lack of R andD research project management skills within many UKinnovating companies, and mentors could help mitigate thesemanagerial shortcomings).

Furthermore, it is commonplace to find that in many innovatingfirms there is a clear lack of lean research and developmentpractices, and here inroads to solving this problem could easilybe made through schemes designed to encourage closercooperation between large and small companies in supplychains, where the former frequently deploy these lean R and Dtechniques; and, indeed, via close links between industry anduniversities who are developing ‘speed innovation’ toolkits.

High tech SMEs also need to be helped by experts to improvetheir technology road mapping and technology scenarioforecasting behaviours. This reduces search costs andcompresses R and D lead times, which in turn contributestoward innovation efficiency within the firm.

Of particular note is the fact that as innovating SMEtechnologies become increasingly specialised, then trainingfor staff at all levels needs refining. It is of some concern thatspecialist training is on a steeply rising cost curve for manysmaller companies: fundamentally, this is because of thesmall numbers of trainees per specialism and the loss ofscale economies in training normally associated with genericscientific technician training programmes, in the past providedcost effectively local Further Education Colleges (who on their

5

own admission now find coping with high technology companytraining needs something of a challenge). More optimistically,a partial answer to this training conundrum could lie with apolicy initiative that catalysed the development of local inter-firm training networks, where tax relief or a training grantwould help to reduce firm costs.

Finally, innovation is about chance and opportunity, and, asMichael Porter reminds us, competition in sectors is primarilythe dominant domain of business not government.Nevertheless, as the UK’s economic rivals (such as France,

Korea, Germany and the United States) have shown, afundamental part of the growth process across high technologymarkets is the role played by public agencies in supportinginnovation, whether in the field of development finance, or inrespect of government funding to promote and sustain highlyspecialised management and technician training. All of which,taken together, provides a formidable challenge to currentpolitical policy makers, particularly in an era of public financeausterity, but also one in which government seeks to tip thebalance in the economy way from financial services towardhigh value manufacturing and specialist innovation.

‘Customer ServiceExcellence’– the first University to achievethe Standard

The Government wants public services for all that areefficient, effective, excellent, equitable and empowering –with the citizen always and everywhere at the heart of publicservice provision. With this in mind Customer ServiceExcellence was developed to offer public services a practicaltool for driving customer-focused change within theirorganisation.

The foundation of this tool is the Customer Service Excellencestandard which tests in great depth those areas that researchhas indicated are a priority for customers, with particularfocus on delivery, timeliness, information, professionalismand staff attitude. There is also emphasis placed ondeveloping customer insight, understanding the user’sexperience and robust measurement of service satisfaction.

We are delighted to report that, after recently undergoing CSEassessment by an external assessor, we, as a University, haveachieved CSE accreditation. There will now be a two yearcontinuing audit which is intended to ensure we aremaintaining and improving standards across the organisation.

As across the rest of our University we, here in AIBS, have astrong commitment to ensuring delivery of effective customerservice on a daily basis.

Lord Jeffrey Archer tosupport students on‘Learning by Doing’moduleDuring their final year students on the BA (Hons) Enterpriseand Entrepreneurial Management are required to devise,organise and manage a charity event as part of their finalyear ‘Learning by Doing’ module.

One of the two groups is holding a black tie auction dinnerin the University Arms in Cambridge next May for ‘Help forHeroes’ and ‘SOS Soldiers’.

Professor Lester Lloyd-Reason is delighted to announce thatthe group have secured the services of Lord Jeffrey Archerwho used to do this sort of thing whilst at Oxford University,even managing to persuade The Beatles to play at a charityconcert on campus, and also when he was Chairman of theConservative Party.

As a bonus Lord Archer will also be encouraging some of hiswell-known friends to be involved so the event should be agreat publicity opportunity for our work in enterpriseeducation as well as for our University.

Professor Lester Lloyd-ReasonProfessor of International Enterprise StrategyE: lester.lloyd-reason@anglia.ac.ukT: 0845 196 2479

6

Values-based decision making:Leadership in the UK Public Sector By Dr Jonathan Smith

Reflecting on my busy day at the office today, it struck me thatnearly every conversation I’d had was about leadership – eitherdirectly or indirectly. Whether that be connected to climatechange, government cutbacks, role of business schools, orsurvival of SMEs. Leadership really seems to be high on theagenda.

I would argue that leaders of all sorts and at all levels can learnas much from watching and talking to others as they can fromthe formal leadership education. So in this brief article I wouldlike to share some insights from an interview I conducted withChief Superintendant Adrian Lee, The head of Northamptonshirepolice, recently. I conducted this interview with Sue Howardand the full interview is detailed in a special edition of theInternational Journal of Leadership in public services.

Introduction to the interview:Training to be a Catholic priest and then studying for a lawdegree isn’t the usual route to becoming a police officer butthen again Chief Constable Adrian Lee is no ordinary person. Inmany ways though, his studies of theology, philosophy, and lawprior to him joining the police service have shaped and formedhis sense of vocation and the values which are now central tomany of the fundamental issues of leadership that the policeservice have to consider.

Adrian has emphasised the importance of vision, values andvocation as being essential elements for effective policing in the21st century, and wrote an outstanding article in Police Review(Lee, 2010) where he outlined some of his thoughtsconcerning these ‘3Vs’. He has developed thinking on appliedethics in the police force and values-based decision makingmodels and is currently leading on a project to develop a singlenational police decision-making model.

Where do you feel your vision, values and senseof vocation (‘3Vs’) stem from?

These all stem mainly from my Catholic upbringing and weredeveloped further during my three years in an intellectuallystimulating seminary in Rome. They are very internalised

motivators. Money was never the major driver for me, I wanted

to find a way to serve others. I am more interested in using myintellectual capabilities to make a difference practically – that’swhat I find personally rewarding.

How have these ‘3Vs’ developed during your career?

My values and sense of vocation have been fairly constantI think but the interpretation of my vision and values havedeveloped as I have progressed within the police service andas I have had different opportunities to influence. Working withChris Sims, then the Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police,was a real privilege and my vision for Northamptonshire policebegan from many in-depth discussions when I worked there.

At that time we decided together to change the strategy so that itwas more aligned with our values and those of the organisation.Our strategic focus became ‘to build trust and confidence of thecommunity’ in local policing. To achieve this I developed avalues-based decision making (VBDM) model (see Table 1).

Table 1: Value Based Decision Making Model (VBDM)

Step 7: Monitor and review- be prepared to be flexible

Step 6: Decide, act and record

Step 5: If in doubt – consult

Step 4: Check your decision would stand public scrutiny

Step 3: Choose the best option to build trust and confidence

Step 2: Consider options based on force values

Step 1: Know the law or regulations

Chief Constable Adrian Lee

7

The VBDM approach is being used by other forces and I amnow using it with my Northamptonshire colleagues. It fits wellwith our value descriptors which were built through a bottom-up consultation exercise (see Table 2). It is important thatpeople work through their own values if they are to havea sense of buy-in to them.

Table 2 – Northamptonshire Police Values

• Valuing and serving the community• Acting with fairness and integrity• Learning, creating and innovating• Understanding and caring for individuals• Encouraging and appreciating diversity and the

contribution of others• Succeeding as Team Northamptonshire

The VBDM is helpful for officers and operates at all levels. Itsupports development of professional judgement and encouragesdiscretionary leadership. It is now being developed at a nationallevel. The significance of all this is that it helps the police to drivethe day to day business from a strong values base. Living byvalues is challenging and not always straightforward. Weunderstand the ethical complexity and acknowledge it isimportant to learn how to deal with failure in the face of suchhigh standards

How would you sum up your leadership philosophyand approach?

Effective leadership is about making complex things simple.Then it’s about being able to communicate ideas clearly andconsistently to get the message across. I think it is importantto be visible and I, and my team, are committed to visitingdifferent areas of the force regularly, talking with people.

You undertake a very demanding and challenging jobboth as a police officer and Chief Constable. How doyou cope with the pressures involved?

Support mechanisms are very important – family, friends,colleagues and faith.

The police are sometimes required to deal with people who don’thave a sense of moral boundaries, and in society we are the oneswho have to deal with unacceptable behaviour. Moral theory andunderlying principles are important, but it may be difficult to liveby them consistently. My educational background gives me theconfidence that I have thought things through and this hasinformed the production of the VBDM model which I findsignificantly helpful in resolving issues. Being guided by theagreed organisational values, and putting them into practice withcompassion, makes the difficult decisions easier and means thatyou can sleep at night knowing you’ve done the right thing. Somesee ethics and values as ‘soft and fluffy’ but sticking to them istough and means you can’t ignore problems.

What do you think are the best ways to supportpersonal/leadership development within the policeforce?

Ensuring that there is a critical mass of thinking around culturalchange, as well as individual encouragement and training. Aspolicing is vocational, in that officers join to make a differenceand to deliver a service to the community, it very important foran individual’s morale and motivation to feel that someone caresabout their career. Good leaders take a one-to-one interest intheir staff’s personal development – it’s an important part of thejob. You need to give people time, allow them to talk and tell youwhat’s on their mind, and really listen to what is being said. It’seasy to think you know what’s best and tempting to jump instraight away and tell people ‘the answer’ but this isn’t the mostproductive thing to do.

What do you see as being the key challenges forleaders within the public sector, and are there anyleadership principles you would like to convey to otherleaders in the public sector?

Balancing the budget and having to manage effectively with lessis a key challenge. The key principles that have helped me are:

• to be really clear about vision, values and sense ofvocation

• take personal responsibility

• build a good team around you, and encourage them tobe honest with you and challenge you when necessaryso that you do not become detached from reality

• balance academic knowledge with common sense

• develop people skills

• and remember that professional reputations aremaintained by successful service delivery of outcomes

ReferencesLee, A. (2010) Police Review 19th February. Available atwww.policereview.com

Jonathan Smith, Senior LecturerE: jonathan.smith@anglia.ac.ukT: 0845 196 2069

8

Anglia Ruskin networksenterprising educationideas to Romania

UK shows Romania the way byproviding the model for studentsto gain privileged access to leadingentrepreneurs while they study

Anglia Ruskin University has entered into a partnership with theRomanian Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest to helpRomanian business students to enhance their studies throughcollaboration with business winners from their economy.

The Ashcroft International Business School (AIBS) has signeda contract worth £3.5m which will see us working with theAcademy to develop a new School of Entrepreneurial andManagement Studies. The new faculty will use the highlysuccessful BA (Hons) Enterprise and Entrepreneurial degreeprogramme as a template for the development of a suite ofacademic programmes and research activities designed to helphigh flying degree-level business students to fast-track themselvesinto the fast-developing Romanian economy.

The School of Entrepreneurial and Management Studies willcultivate relationships with leading academics, practitionersand world class entrepreneurs who will be embedded in thework of the faculty mirroring the highly innovative modeldeveloped through the BA (Hons) Enterprise and EntrepreneurialManagement which has proved to a be a big success within theUK. The objective is to unlock the potential of young businessminds to help with the ongoing growth and development of theEuropean Union’s most recent member country (Romania joinedthe EU in 2007).

An ‘Entrepreneur in Residence’scheme will be developed for thecourse which will be spearheaded byProf Ovidiu Nicolescu who is Presidentof the National Council of SMEs inRomania. He is a professor,management trainer and internationalenterprise consultant at the Academyof Economic Studies. This network willbe explicitly involved in all stages inthe development and managementof the new school which is alreadygenerating considerable interest inRomania where there is a need for

inspiring and creative degree students in the market place.

The new degree was developed in response to the criticism thatsome entrepreneurial degree programmes were out of date anddid not fit with the ever-changing and increasingly challengingeconomic conditions across Europe. According to Prof Lester

Lloyd-Reason from the newly-established Centre for Enterprise,Development and Research (CEDAR) at AIBS, it encouragesuniversities and business schools to be more courageous theirdelivery of enterprise programmes. ‘The programme we aresetting up in Romania is the same formula that we are usingin the UK. It is encouraging business students to shift theirthinking in terms of real-life enterprise by giving them privilegedaccess to world class entrepreneurs who are keen to share theirown personal experiences and pass on their acquired skills andexpertise.’

‘This new partnership is an absolute vote of confidence for thework we are undertaking within AIBS which has embeddedenterprise at its very heart. It is working in the UK and now indemand from other European Union member countries. We willcontinue to roll out this unique idea in order to harness the someof Europe’s finest business minds to help educate the nextgeneration of entrepreneurs and business leaders.’

The new school will provide students with conceptual andtheoretical insights into enterprise, innovation and entrepreneurialmanagement, as well as developing the practical abilities andskills students need to apply this understanding within a range ofdifferent business, community and organisational contexts. Thestudents will be exposed to real-life business challenges throughmentoring and shadowing to produce graduates who are highlymotivated, have high self-esteem and self-confidence.

The mix of highly innovative undergraduate and post-graduateacademic programmes will be supported through theestablishment of a dynamic research and development agendato include cutting edge international research projects, an

Prof Ovidiu Nicolescu

9

international PhD programme and a highly stimulating post-docresearch environment.

The University’s Vice Chancellor Professor Michael Thorne,signed the new partnership agreement on behalf of the AshcroftInternational Business School with the Romanian Academy ofEconomic Studies. He said: ‘Romania has been labelled the‘Tiger of the East’ for its considerable economic potential. It isa country rich in agriculture, with diverse energy sources anda substantial manufacturing base. As an economy with highgrowth rates it will stand to benefit greatly from this investmentin its future business leaders.

The Centre for Enterprise, Development and Research(CEDAR) will be launched officially in the UK in Novemberat an event hosted by the Technology Partnership whichowns Melbourne Science Park near Cambridge. The Chairof the Technology Partnership, Peter Taylor has agreed tobecome Chair of CEDAR.

The mission of CEDAR is to set the benchmark for UniversityEnterprise Centres by blending theory and practice. This willbe achieved through building a suite of highly innovativeacademic programmes, research and development activitiesand consulting and management training initiatives throughCEDAR’s unique mix of leading academics, practitioners andworld class entrepreneurs.

Professor Lester Lloyd-ReasonProfessor of International Enterprise StrategyE: lester.lloyd-reason@anglia.ac.ukT: 0845 196 2479

Romanian Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest

Cross facultycollaboration resultsin innovative newMasters CourseAnglia Ruskin was one of the first European providers ofMasters-level study of intercultural communication andmanagement. Arts, Law and Social Sciences and AshcroftInternational Business School have long been active inteaching and research across the disciplinary divide in thisfield. Two years ago, Terry Mughan, Professor of InternationalManagement and Guido Rings, Professor of PostcolonialStudies started to explore the need for a new course in thisfield, one which would add value to what was already on offerin the East of England. Guido felt that some ALSS studentswanted more of a business perspective and Terry was mindfulof some of the failures in international corporate leadershipthat led to the 'credit-crunch'.

What emerged was the MA in Cultures and OrganisationalLeadership, validated in May 2010 and now running withits first cohort of students. “We are very encouraged by theenthusiasm of this first group of students, says Terry. Theyhave a passion for communication and they want to transmitthat to others to make organisations more sensitive andresponsible to the diverse communities around them.”

The course will provide students with a theoretical back-dropto cultures and leadership and will then bring in practitionersfrom companies and public-sector bodies such as the NHS totalk about real problems and strategies. “Developing a sharedprogramme across Faculties poses particular challenges”, addsTerry. We have both learned a lot. But it was worth the effort todo something original.”

Professor Terry MughanProfessor of International ManagementE: terry.mughan@anglia.ac.ukT: 0845 196 2248

10

Cor

pora

teM

arke

ting

4767/1

1.1

0/D

T

MBA

CON

NEC

TIf you have any news orinformation you feel wouldbe of interest to your fellowMBA Alumni please send yourcopy to me. The next issueof MBAConnect is due outin March 2011 and the deadlinefor copy is the 2 March 2011(good quality images toaccompany your articles wouldbe good too). Additionally, if youhave any suggestions as to thetype of content you would liketo see in the newsletter thenplease let me know.

Editor:Christine Durrant(Communications, Marketingand External Relations, AIBS)

E:christine.durrant@anglia.ac.uk

Websites:www.anglia.ac.uk/alumniwww.anglia.ac.uk/aibs

MBACONNECT

Special Interest Group onSpirituality and Teachingestablished

Dr Jonathan Smith from AIBS is establishing this specialinterest group. Its focus is primarily on spirituality andteaching in Higher Education in the UK, and on the questions:

To what extent and in what contexts can/should spiritualitybe addressed as a dimension of academic work?

How may spirituality be taught? How could it be assessed?What resources and support are available to assist in thedissemination and development of teaching?

The group also hopes to draw together relevant expertise fromdifferent sectors in the UK and in Higher Education worldwide.

Specific aims of the special interest group are to:

1. Draw together expertise from within and across disciplinesworldwide;

2. Organise occasional one-day workshops focusing on theteaching of spirituality in Higher Education;

3. Produce resources on this topic;

4. Establish an e-communications mechanism where groupmembers can share experiences, expertise, and resources;where the work can be promoted; and where advice andassistance can be sought;

5. Secure funding to enable the group to be self-sustainingonce the HE Academy start-up funding has run out.

Jonathan has been successful in gaining £500 of start-upfunding from the HE Academy to set up the group.

Anyone interested in joining the group should contact Jonathan atE: Jonathan.Smith@anglia.ac.ukT: 0845 196 2069