St Mary’s Connects Students with Local Businesses

On Monday 25th November, the School of Management and Social Sciences at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham, held its inaugural Enterprise Forum. Organised by Academic Director for Research and Enterprise in the School, Lise Georgeson and facilitated by Centre for Workplace Learning Placement Advisor, Fiona Wilson, the forum aimed to look for ways to facilitate and encourage collaboration between the University College, local businesses and students, particularly those looking to start their own business. After a collaborative session exploring the different needs of the various partners, plans were made to investigate the possibilities which were identified during the event. The idea now is to move forward with a number of stimulating enterprise initiatives. The event attracted five local business people, including two St Mary’s alumni, who volunteered their time to the initiative. Their expertise was supplemented by the contribution of Louis Harry and Thomas Price, first-year students on the undergraduate Management Studies programme. The pair, amongst other plans including an online magazine, are looking to set up a Student Enterprise Society. Reflecting on the afternoon, Lise said, “It was an interesting and fun session with a very productive outcome, leaving us with some excellent ideas to move forward with.”