New short business courses at Warrington mark an exciting first

The Advanced Manager suite of short courses just launched by the University’s Chester Business School will be the first to be delivered from the prominent new hub, with its learners paving the way for more students from the wider community.

Running this Spring at Time Square, the new courses have been designed to help businesses thrive in the current post-pandemic climate, responding to societal pressures which have accelerated the workplace’s evolution beyond anyone’s anticipation. They look to address the challenges and help managers enhance their skills, develop their team’s skills, energise their teams, further their organisation’s success and reduce its carbon footprint.

Dr Brendan O’Sullivan, Warrington Deputy Provost said: “We are excited to welcome everyone enrolled on the Advanced Manager courses and see the first learners using the new lecture spaces, study zones, and spaces for students, businesses, schools, colleges and the local community to connect.

“The University has worked closely with current students and local businesses for their input on this exciting new development, to ensure that we create new premises that are high-quality, specialist spaces, co-designed with current students to enable them to excel.”

Karen Cregan, Senior Lecturer at Chester Business School said: “We are pleased to launch this new suite of short business courses to provide a toolkit to navigate, respond to challenges and thrive in a changing world. As outlined in recent research, the ability to apply purpose, potential and perspective will be crucial to success for leaders and their organisations.”

She added that employees who lived and worked in Cheshire and Warrington could apply for 40% funding towards the cost of the course through Accelerate Cheshire and Warrington.

The five new Advanced Manager courses start in April and May and potentially can count towards a full Work Based and Integrated Studies Degree. They are:

• Leadership Self-Review - looking at areas including effective leadership, communication skills, self-reflection and personality profiling.
• Agile Leadership and Change - covering aspects such as creating a wellbeing climate where people are happy and proud to work for their organisation, self-assessing agility, engagement theory and confidence with technological innovation and change.
• Strategic Talent Planning - helping to understand how an organisation can plan its talent for today and the future, and create a continuous learning culture, with people, community and value at the core of decision-making.
• Resilient Leadership and Emotional Intelligence - looking at developing and using key strategies in leadership, emotional intelligence and change to build a resilient team which is able to adapt to the needs of its service and the wider community.
• Sustainable Leadership - focused on how to understand the science of climate change, to lead sustainably, educate teams, contribute to wider company goals and Corporate Social Responsibility strategies, and reduce a business’s carbon footprint.

Each is a one-day course at Time Square, Warrington, with a follow-up online coaching session to aid managers’ personalised learning.

People are invited to try out the courses with a free one-and-a-half hour online taster session on Thursday March 30, 2022.

More details are available at: https://www1.chester.ac.uk/chester-business-school/study/short-courses-and-accreditation-prior-learning/advanced-manager.

Based in the heart of Warrington town centre, the new Time Square and Remond House locations are only a five-minute walk apart. The University of Chester’s Warrington-based undergraduate and postgraduate teaching will be delivered from the sites from the start of the next academic year (September 2022). The location increases the reach and accessibility of the University in Warrington, allowing students and staff easy access to public transport, as well as a range of leisure and retail facilities offered in Warrington.

For further information on University Centre Warrington, please visit: https://www1.chester.ac.uk/university-centre-warrington and https://www1.chester.ac.uk/university-centre-warrington/big-move-latest-news.

For an informal chat about any of the Advanced Manager courses, please email Karen Cregan at: k.cregan@chester.ac.uk.

More about the Accelerate programme is available by contacting Maud Duthie, Project Lead, at: m.duthie@chester.ac.uk.

ENDS

Further information

About University Centre Warrington

From September 2022, the University of Chester and its partners aim to give Higher Education greater prominence in Warrington and increase opportunities with a more visible and accessible town centre presence: University Centre Warrington.

The new premises, co-designed with current students, will provide high-quality, specialist spaces. Based in the heart of Warrington town centre, the Time Square and Remond House locations are only a five-minute walk apart. The central location will allow students and staff easy access to public transport, as well as a range of leisure and retail facilities offered in Warrington.

Sarah Parker Remond House: A dedicated site for the majority of the Warrington teaching provision which includes Health and Social Care, Policing and Education. The building will house a student hub for the delivery of key student services, as well as social spaces for students between teaching sessions.

Time Square: The location here will provide a prominent hub for the University in Warrington, offering small lecture spaces, study zones, as well as space to connect for students, businesses, schools, colleges and the local community.

For more information, visit: https://www1.chester.ac.uk/university-centre-warrington.

Research on the changing business environment and responding to the challenges

Deloitte’s 2021 Global Human Capital Trends report demonstrates that in an environment that can shift from moment to moment, organisations need to be grounded in a set of human principles including purpose, ethics, growth and collaboration. Meanwhile research such as The Industrial Strategy Council’s 2019 UK Skills Mismatch in 2030 report highlights the need to build the practical business skills that are necessary for this evolution.