Barclays and Anglia Ruskin’s Lord Ashcroft International Business School have successfully designed, developed and managed the Retail Development Programme (RDP), which has adopted the BA (Hons) Management & Leadership degree as its academic award.
The RDP specifically targets new talent to the business with the aim of the trainees achieving the position of branch manager, or equivalent, within three years of joining the programme.
Since the programme has now seen three cohorts successfully graduate, there was a significant amount of management information data available to tell a compelling “valued added” success story, and also highlight achievements in relation to diversity, retention, academic success and simultaneous career progression.
Anglia Ruskin was shortlisted alongside Boots plc, Cape, MITIE Group plc and NHS London (Strategic Health Authority), and won first place after delivering a presentation and being interviewed by a panel of judges, which comprised of representatives from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Hays, and Marks & Spencer plc.
The judges commended Barclays and Anglia Ruskin “for their innovative work-based undergraduate assessment and degree, placing emphasis on the cultural value the programme has given rise to through creating opportunities for a broad pool of candidates – many of which have come from disadvantaged backgrounds”.
Will Rist, one of the first Anglia Ruskin graduates from the programme, was invited to attend the awards evening in recognition of his career success and on-going contributions to the Retail Development Programme. Other representatives included Anglia Ruskin’s Vice Chancellor Professor Michael Thorne, Course Leaders Vanessa Knowles and Rachael Hall, and Johannah Lynch, the RDP Programme Manager at Barclays.
Vanessa Knowles said: “This work-based degree programme is an excellent example of how the Lord Ashcroft International Business School is successfully developing its practice-based agenda and employer engagement activity.”
Work is now commencing on the recruitment and selection of the sixth cohort of students to begin studying in September 2013.
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For more press information please contact:
Jon Green on t: 0845 196 4717, e: jon.green@anglia.ac.uk
Andrea Hilliard on t: 0845 196 4727, e: andrea.hilliard@anglia.ac.uk
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