Member Article

Boutique hotel group launches partnership with leading university

An award-winning hotel group has launched a new partnership with one of the country’s leading universities to provide students with real-world experiences in their academic field.

The programme sees students within Birmingham City University’s Business School work on live projects with The Eden Hotel Collection, which counts towards one of their final-year modules.

Three third-year students from the BA Marketing course have been the first to take part on projects under the mentorship of Eden’s Sales and Marketing Director Tara Robinson.

Live projects saw them work across a variety of themes including food proposition at The Arden Hotel’s restaurant in Stratford-upon-Avon, event spaces at Brockencote Hall Hotel in Kidderminster, and recruitment of people 25 and under.

As well as playing a part in projects for a national collection of boutique hotels, the programme helps students to develop employment abilities and provides them with experience and insights into their chosen academic field.

Tara said: “We are delighted to be working with Birmingham City University on this exciting new partnership.

“It has been fantastic to talk to students and provide an insight into the world of marketing as they start their new careers.

“From a personal point of view they have been a joy to work with, and I would like to thank them for delivering projects which will help to inform our future business operations.”

The programme, which was linked to students’ Integrated Business Research Project, saw them prepare a proposal plan, carry out a marked presentation, and submit a live project report.

Emma Neale, Associate Professor and Employability Lead at Birmingham City University’s Business School, said: “Working with businesses such as The Eden Hotel Collection is an invaluable experience for our students, which not only helps enhance their skills and their experience by fulfilling projects for organisations, but also generates internships and graduate job opportunities.

“We are really thankful to Tara and her team for working with our students on this and we look forward to continuing this partnership.”

Student Mathilda Vassilissin completed her project on event spaces, Delice Kazadi carried out her project on recruitment of the 25 and under, while Maryama Eid looked at food proposition at No.44 Brasserie in Stratford.

Maryama added: “I have greatly benefitted because it mimics the testing scenarios typically used during the application process for jobs, where candidates need to provide solutions for business problems using available resources and research.

“Throughout the course of this unique project, I used problem redefinition techniques, carried out both primary and secondary research and presented the findings in relevant ways such as graphs, thematic analysis and finally a written recommendation.

“As a result, this project has allowed me to develop employability skills such as problem solving, commercial awareness and communication skills.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matt Joyce .