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Royal Docks gets down to business

Thursday 12 November 2009

Picture of Royal Docks Business School Dean, Professor Len Shackleton

Following a huge investment programme, the University of East London's Royal Docks Business School (RDBS) held a launch event at Canary Wharf’s East Wintergarden on Wednesday 11 November. The event welcomed key UEL partners, local entrepreneurs and businesses to mark the highly successful relocation and restructure of the School with a re-branding.

The new School has expanded its staff, increased student numbers, developed a new management team and repositioned itself to embrace new technology and face new challenges. Royal Docks Business School Dean, Professor Len Shackleton (pictured), explains: "UEL’s business teaching has a long and distinguished history with strong local connections and links with employers. We are maintaining and building on this heritage, while recognising the hugely exciting changes taking place in the Docklands and Stratford areas."

Re-branded to symbolise the School’s commitment to an area which is a growing centre of employment and innovation, the Royal Docks Business School is now home to a vast open plan trading floor, flexible teaching space, IT hubs, a 400-seat lecture theatre, modern library and learning centre, together with The Petchey Centre for Entrepreneurship, established to promote innovation amongst students, local businesses and the local community.

Guest speaker, Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, often known as The Black Farmer, had some great advice for the budding entrepreneurs present, citing focus, attitude and most of all ‘the ability to live with the fear’ as key to success.

Final-year Urban Dance students from the UK’s fastest growing urban dance programme, performed and so did, singer songwriter Rachael Travers, one of UEL’s student musicians.

Professor Shackleton says: "We have London City Airport immediately opposite us, ExCeL minutes away, the O2 and Canary Wharf a couple of miles further. UEL's Stratford Campus is the base for Olympic-related work we are doing in sports management. We are developing programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level with strong emphasis on practical preparation for the new careers which are opening up all around us."

Howard Dawber, Strategic Advisor to The Canary Wharf Group (joint sponsor) said: “We are very proud of East London and we are immensely proud of UEL and the work we do together. This is an exciting time for change and the continuing development of UEL, ExCeL, Crossrail and the Olympics, will continue to bring new and exciting opportunities to the area.”

Event Management students: Laura Heyward, Dipika Parmar and Rhea Gunesh were on hand to put their skills into practice as they were amongst the official event staff for the evening. They had this to say: “It’s great to work on events like this. Many courses are generally theory based but at UEL we really get to be involved in all aspects of event management.”

A local business that has been a key partner with UEL for a number of years is the Glass and Glazing Association based in Borough. Giles Wilson, Director of Technical Affairs, said: “We take on a number of UEL students for work placements, giving them real hands on experience as early as possible. It is something we are proud to support.”

Professor Shackleton summed up:
"RDBS offers a business education aimed at intellectual rigour, practical understanding and individual integrity. Enhancing the employability and aspirations of our students is absolutely central to our work, and we work with businesses, government and wider communities at home and abroad. We want to involve as many people and businesses as possible in developing our ambitions for this dynamic area of the capital."

For more information about the Royal Docks Business School, visit: www.uel.ac.uk/business/

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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