Students learned first hand about the rare book industry
How is literature marketed? Who controls its value? To what extent do authors cater for an audience? These are just some of the questions posed by ‘The Culture Business’, Prof Jane Moody’s module for second year English and Related Literature students. Providing an academic approach to the publishing, bookselling and print media industries, the module offers students a chance to gain an insight into one of the most popular yet competitive industries around. Looking at works from the Romantic period to the present day, students are invited to study the ways in which authors have interacted with the contemporary literary marketplace.
As a result of York WRCETLE sponsorship, students taking the module in the summer term had the opportunity to meet key industry players and find out how they achieved success. The literary—or culture—industry is notoriously difficult to break into and thus the chance to learn from people directly involved was invaluable. Isobel Dixon, from Blake Friedman, provided an insight into the importance of the literary agent in today’s publishing industry. Lisa Chaney, a successful biographer, inspired potential authors in the group when she talked through the research and creative processes that go into the creation of a successful biography.
The module countered the notoriously metropolitan nature of the literary industry through trips to some of York’s culture businesses. Of particular note was a visit to Spelman’s, the renowned rare and second-hand book shop on Micklegate. Students gained an insight into independent book selling and were treated to anecdotes about literary finds by the owner. A visit to the York branch of Borders provided a more modern example of bookselling. Students learnt about the marketing of books, and were given a sneak peak at the Amazon Kindle e-reader before it hit the shop floor.
The module proved a huge success.
Hear from the students and their tutor first hand:
Article written by Helen Citron, originally published in Enterprise focus.
To help English Literature students consider their future employment options, the careers service has set up an innovative new project: The E-zine. Student teams compete through two pitching sessions for £2000 of CETLE-provided funds in order to design, write, launch and distribute an electronic (online) magazine, or e-zine. The aim of the project is to create a specialist publication but also to explore the employment possibilities that an English Literature degree provides.
The Career Service’s Kate Copland is behind the project. She says that the idea for the project arose when ‘careers advisers noticed that many English students feel unsure about what career path to take’ and ‘wanted to do something especially for English students to help them engage with the idea of career planning, but also give them an opportunity of developing more employability skills through participating in the project’.
The project allows participants to develop a comprehensive array of skills. As well as journalists, each team requires project, finance, marketing, IT and events managers. This builds skills in areas such as budget management and business planning which would not normally be developed within the student’s degree course. Participants also have the opportunity to attend teaching sessions from industry professionals and are advised how best to incorporate their new-found skills into their CV.
To hear more about the project from the 2008 student team, and project developer Kate Copland, please watch our feedback video.
Painting by Richard Barnes, from exhibition entitled "Reflections on a Voyage"
Langwith Arts is the brainchild of Dr John Issitt, Provost of Langwith College. In a bid to redevelop his college as a dynamic and cultural hub, 2006 saw the first Langwith Arts Festival – a series of student-organised events over a May bank holiday weekend with a theme, ‘movement’. A varied programme incorporated Dance, Pantomime, Afro-Caribbean and Juggle Societies, a Jazz band, a Barbershop quartet and a group of break dancers. It was novel and well attended, and Issitt’s hopes seemed to be coming into fruition.
CETLE helps students to get involved with enterprise
The University of York has an excellent reputation for teaching and learning across a range of academic disciplines so it was logical for us to approach the growing demand for enterprising graduates by looking at our existing strengths. We believe that enterprise and innovation are concepts that are too important to be confined to business schools and York is a leader in developing teaching and learning based firmly in the curriculum of traditional academic subjects. Activity in this area got underway in 1999 with the support of the then DTI’s ‘Science Engineering Challenge’ funds which enabled science academics to develop teaching that asked students to consider the knowledge and skills of ‘how to get things done’ in the application of their discipline. Read the rest of this entry »
York Entrepreneurs—York’s student-run enterprise society—hosted a well-planned and original enterprise competition in November: The Blueprint. The competition ran over four days, and saw six student teams of four testing and developing their enterprise skills in two original challenges, based around the themes of toys and artwork for children. The competitition offered not only a handsome first prize of £750, but also the chance to work with experts in the areas of branding, marketing and innovation—and to learn from their advice and feedback. Read the rest of this entry »
The IBM Universities Business Challenge is the premier business simulation competition for all university undergraduates in the UK who want to have a life-changing experience. The IBM UBC is a true learning experience for all those who enter. Commencing in October each year, the competition helps students improve their decision-making skills, develop their team-working abilities and increase their knowledge of key business areas such as marketing, finance, production and human resources.
Last year saw two of Sheffield’s three teams get through to the semi-final stage of this competition. Due to this success in 2008 we have entered six teams and so far all the teams appear to be doing well. We will have to wait and see how well the competition continues to go for them. Good luck to Sheffield!
Yet again the Skill Build program is running its course at Sheffield. We have a regular skill session on a weekly basis during term time.
As part of the Sheffield Graduate Award, Skill Build gives students the chance to develop their enterprise and entrepreneurial skills – and pick up points towards the Award!
Skill Build is a series of workshops, seminars and events, with internal and external speakers. The sessions run over both semesters with two distinct series of sessions. Students can attend both series in full or one in isolation. At the end of the series they will be invited to reflect on what they have learned. Everyone who has completed the sessions and reflected on what they have learned will receive a certificate and a skills portfolio.
The following events have been put together by the team of Interns at Sheffield. This has given them the opportunity to create and plan events, with guidance from CETLE staff. It will be seen as part of their learning experience because they will have learnt new skills during these tasks.
An introductory session to a CHRISTMAS FLEA MARKET (to be held on 3 December) was held during Enterprise Week. This will be seen as an excellent opportunity for students to gain new skills!
The idea is to give students a budget to buy goods from charity shops, which they will then sell at the market. They can keep the profit and the winning team will get £50 (although it has been suggested any profit be given to a local charity).
The introductory meeting was held on 17 November in the Enterprise Zone. This event will also count towards the ‘Sheffield Graduate Award‘. The event was well attended and 27 teams will be taking part in the actual Market on 3 December.
Two other events planned for Enterprise Week unfortunately had to be cancelled due to poor take-up and illness.
Yet another successful Business Creation Competition this year! A panel of judges sat and listened to seven companies pitching to win the coveted prize in July 2008.
With Enterprise week looming just around the corner – what better way than to hold the award ceremony in conjunction with Enterprise Week.
This year the award ceremony was a celebration of several achievements at the University of Sheffield:-
The final of the Business Creation Competition was held in July with seven companies vying for the judges’ marks. After some deliberation, the panel awarded 1st prize of £3000 to Ike Sikuade (one of our own Interns) with her company The Colour Couture (sells luxury handmade jewellery and contemporary colour bead gemstone jewellery) and 2nd prize of £2000 went to Fiona Wilson of emmersons Ltd (Information Management and Knowledge Management). In 3rd place was Bettina Yarde with her company Morgan Dias Immigration Consultants.
The celebration continued with the outstanding achievement of Sheffield SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) who this year have become European Champions after winning the SIFE European Symposium which was held in London. This is an annual competition which was an opportunity for nine European teams, including Sheffield, to showcase their work in the local community to a European audience.
Finally, we acknowledged the success of Tom Garwood, a student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering who was named most enterprising student in the Midlands after winning 1st prize in the Regional Shell STEP Awards.
Monday 6 October saw the Enterprise Zone hosting a launch of the Zone to new and existing students of the University of Sheffield. We had exhibitions from student entrepreneurs, student societies and local businesses involved in enterprise and business start-ups. In addition we advertised forthcoming events both new and continuing. Interns and staff were available to answer questions.
The event was well attended and following the launch, the first of the Skill Build sessions for this academic year took place. Interns introduced attendees to “What is Enterprise” by using the game Flux.
Posted by yorkcetle 
Posted by yorkcetle 
Posted by yorkcetle 
