School pupils grab a glimpse of higher education and professional life

Management experts at Bayes Business School partnered with Sage Publishing and Central Foundation Boys School to provide a group of Year 12 business studies students with a glimpse of what Higher Education and life in the business professions could look like.

The Business Education in the Community programme aims to build aspirations of young people in Islington and surrounding areas, by allowing them to experience different university and professional spaces – including lecture theatres, offices and boardrooms.

The four-day programme involved seminars from Bayes experts. Followed by real-world examples and exercises for students, coordinated by professionals at Sage.

Dr Sabrina Gottschalk, Lecturer in Marketing, began the week by introducing students to key elements of branding and why successful marketing campaigns work so well on consumers. On the second day, Dr Martin James, Lecturer in Organisational Behaviour spoke about the functions of human resource management, the importance of recruitment and selection, and the growth of artificial intelligence (AI).

Lilian de Menezes, Professor of Decision Sciences, and Dr Oben Ceryan, Senior Lecturer in Operations Management, then spoke about organisational operations and logistics.

The final morning saw pupils deliver presentations to the class on one of five case studies, based on what they had learnt:

• Tesla’s autopilot feature faces severe criticism amid crashes, recalls, and other safety concerns
• Taylor Swift and the Ticketmaster disaster
• Tony’s Chocolonely sued over copycat marketing
• Rewriting the rules of employment equity: how fire-and-rehire landed Tesco in trouble
• Boar’s Head shutdown: how inaction and oversight snowballed into catastrophe

Student feedback from the week was highly positive, with quotes including:

“The teaching presentations made me want to pursue business studies further”

“I really enjoyed listening to different people in the workplace presentations and the tour of the Sage building”

“The employees gave great support”

“I loved engaging in the activities within groups which made the experience more fun, as well as the HRM talk”

Dr Simon Parker, Director for Responsible Management Education and Outreach at Bayes, said building local aspirations of university and careers in business professions was a crucial mission of Bayes and City St George’s, University of London.

“The question on the minds of many sixth formers is ‘what next?’,” he said.

“It can be a challenging time, particularly when options on the table seem unclear.

“By partnering with Sage to introduce key areas of business, we’ve hopefully managed to inspire a group of talented young individuals towards taking the next steps of their journey, with possibilities they might not previously have considered.”

Jennifer Gray, Head of Business at Central Foundation Boys’ School, said the transformation in students over the week was a real highlight.

“The quality of experience was outstanding,” she said.

“Throughout the week, students received engaging, interactive, and perfectly pitched sessions to stretch and inspire them.

“What made this programme truly exceptional was the transformation we witnessed in our students. Working in groups on real business case studies, they developed not only their subject knowledge but also confidence, communication, and teamworking skills.

“The opportunity to present to industry professionals on the final day and receive detailed, constructive feedback from Matthew from Sage and Simon from Bayes, gave students a real sense of achievement. Their growth over the week was remarkable.

“The experience has deepened their understanding of what studying business at university could look like, and helped to make that pathway feel more tangible and within reach.”

Bayes Business School has a prior relationship with Central Foundation Boys School through the Schools Engagement Programme, a philanthropic commitment to work with communities in London. The Programme, run in partnership with The Portal Trust, aims to develop students’ awareness of challenges in society while providing an education that is responsible, ethical and enhances employment prospects.

Read more about the Schools Engagement Programme.

Find out more about undergraduate programmes at Bayes Business School.