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24 August 2018

King's Business School leads Widening Participation Initiative

King’s Business School hosted its inaugural Sutton Trust Summer School from 21-23 August, in collaboration with King’s Widening Participation (KCLWP), inviting 45 students on campus for a series of business education events and activities.

widening participation 2018

KCLWP approached King’s Business School to design an innovative, evidence-based programme that would equip students with the resources, networks, skills and confidence they need as they embark on their higher education journey.

The result was the development of the first business stream at King’s, with academic and professional services staff from King’s Business School devising a packed agenda of activities for participants, all aimed at empowering bright students from diverse backgrounds to consider higher education and increasing their chances of gaining access to selective universities.

All students on the Summer School business stream spent three full days at King’s Business School, taking part in lectures and workshops, as well as offsite visits.

On day one students were introduced to business teaching through lectures delivered by King’s Business School academics. Dr Ali Budjanovcanin delivered a lecture in ‘Leadership and Management’ and Dr Aditi Gupta delivered a class on ‘Introduction to Capital Markets’. Dr Aditi Gupta said, “I was teaching the students about the role of information in capital markets and a basic overview of financial statements. The students did an activity identifying assets, revenues and costs in three different industries – retail, transportation and leisure, and we had a discussion around why firms go public using Facebook as an example.

It was a fantastic experience. The students were all keen and eager to learn and I wish them all the best."

Dr Aditi Gupta, King's Business School

On day two students attended a morning session with Jay Shorter, Learning Programme Manager at the King’s Entrepreneurship Institute. Here they were asked to think innovatively and pitch ideas for a new venture to their classmates. The quality of pitches was high with students putting forward creative solutions to address the challenges faced by many major industries spanning transport, and health, to wellbeing. In the afternoon students took part in a stock market simulation in King’s Business School’s state of the art Finance & Trading room in Bush House.

Widening Participation Trading Room
Widening Participation Trading Room

The final day began with an offsite visit arranged by King’s Business School to the newly opened Bloomberg HQ in The City. Here students received a tour of the impressive new Norman Foster-designed office building and heard from staff how recruitment works and the skills and qualities they seek in individuals employed by the company. This was followed by a ‘Design Your Life’ session run by Kate Woods, Career Consultant at King’s Business School, where she imparted the latest thinking from the d.school at Stanford. Students were given an introduction to the ideas and methods  applied through ‘design thinking’ and asked to consider the importance of choosing their own path through higher education and life after graduation.

Widening Participation Bloomberg Talk
Widening Participation Bloomberg Talk

The Sutton Trust Summer School initiative aims to connect those from under-represented backgrounds to consider the many and varied higher education opportunities available to them.

Students participating in The Sutton Trust summer school program are able to experience university life for a week as well as receiving peer networking, year-round contact with KCLWP and overall aims to give students the confidence to apply to highly selective universities. Students are also given application and mentoring support. Learn more about KCLWP and their initiatives by visiting their page: Widening Participation at King's.

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