The University of Winchester’s Faculty of Business and Design Technology (BDT) staged an awards ceremony for students who had completed a new programme aimed at honing their professional and digital skills in preparation for the world of work.
The Discovery programme is made up of six parts or ‘badges’ – covering AI, Creative Design Thinking, Professional Documentation, Excel Express, Coaching and Mentoring.
These topics were specially selected as they not only developed essential skills for academic success but were also prerequisites for a successful career
First Year students who had completed the series attended a ceremony at the West Downs Auditorium to receive their badges and among those were some singled out for Highly Commended awards.
Prominent people from the world of business and management attended to present the awards.
They were:
- John McKenna, Global Head and Vice President at pharmaceutical company Sanofi
- Andy Silcock, founder of telecoms consultancy Kid-A
- Jonah Lucket, IBM Security & Legal Scanning Tools Technical Lead
- Mark Hayter, Head of Data & Insights, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Amanda Beable, Head of Transformation & Business Services, Hampshire County Council
- Also presenting an award was Julia Osgerby, Associate Dean of the BDT.
Highly Commended Award winners:
AI Magic for All – Ventsi Dimitrov and Adil Saad
Creative Design Thinking – Steven Jones, Gracie Edkins, Remigio Bandala and Amelia Duquemin
Style your Docs – Grace Ballantyne and Lauren Glasgow
Skills to Succeed – George Read, Max Mills, Nicole Gannaway and William Leeson
Coaching and Mentoring Badge – Dominika Molnar, Remigio Ontaneda Bandala, Harriet Fish and Steven Jones
Excel Express – Adil Saad, Luke Pickles and Szymon Koneczny
Students turned the tables on staff by awarding three badges of their own to staff.
Most Inspiring member of staff was Marie Haverly; Favourite Activity was a Lego event run by Steve Northam, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Tina Scahill, Lecturer and creative facilitator in the Department of Design and Immersive Technologies; and Most Insightful course was Coaching & Mentoring run by Marie Haverly, Deputy Head of the Business School, and Manuela Pilato, Lecturer in Business and Event Management.
Justine Clements, Business Development Manager, who led the event said: “We were delighted to host an event that fostered community building by bringing together the entire first year cohort, to network, reflect and celebrate their successes. The input from industry experts provided inspiration about the real-world application of the skills to succeed in a broad range of business settings.”
