New guide names Napier University as top Scottish ‘modern‘
Edinburgh Napier has made a dramatic surge through UK university rankings in back-to-back assessments carried out for the national Press.
The University climbed 38 places in the rankings for The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021, published this weekend, and was the highest placed of the Scottish post-1992 modern universities.
The success follows hot on the heels of another significant leap, in the Guardian University Guide, which saw Edinburgh Napier move up 43 places in the overall table.
And just two months ago, the University was ranked number one in Edinburgh for student satisfaction, according to the National Student Survey (NSS) 2020.
The largest student feedback survey in the world revealed an overall satisfaction level of 86 per cent at the University – up seven per cent on last year.
Professor Andrea Nolan, Principal of Edinburgh Napier University, said: “Our climb through the rankings is a wonderful lift for everyone at Edinburgh Napier in what are, and will continue to be, extremely challenging times for Higher Education.
“These tables are based on varying sets of metrics so to perform so impressively in successive assessments of the university landscape is a tribute to the hard work which goes into ensuring studying here is a rewarding experience.
“It is particularly pleasing to be ranked the top modern university in Scotland, an accolade which will inspire us to keep setting high standards as we embark on a new academic year.”
The Times and Sunday Times Guide places Edinburgh Napier ninth in Scotland and 63rd in the UK, a significant leap from last year’s UK rank of 101st.
Fuller details of the analysis carried out for the guide will be published on Sunday, but it follows the jump of 43 places in the Guardian Guide earlier this month, the largest increase in rank of any Scottish institution, to joint 62nd out of 122 UK universities.
The earlier guide saw Edinburgh Napier named the top institution for Film Production & Photography in the UK, and number one for Music and Media & Film Studies among the modern universities.
The university had five subjects in the top 10 for UK institutions – Film Production & Photography (1), Media & Film Studies (5), Hospitality, Event Management & Tourism (6), Music (7) and Journalism, Publishing & Public Relations (10).
The National Student Survey which was published over the summer saw satisfaction levels among students rise in all six of the University’s Schools; Applied Sciences (84 to 86 per cent), Arts & Creative Industries (84 to 94), Computing (81 to 85), Engineering & the Built Environment (78 to 79), Health & Social Care (67 to 81) and the Business School (84 to 87).
Every university in the UK participates in the survey.
Young players can study to degree level while pursuing their professional careers
Edinburgh Napier is teaming up with Heart of Midlothian FC and Hibernian FC to support young Academy players on a dual career pathway – studying at the same time as training and playing with their clubs.
A new course has been specifically tailored towards players whose training commitments make traditional study options difficult. The programme was developed in response to a request from HMFC Head of Academy, Roger Arnott, who was looking for a way to help support the young players to remain in education while beginning their journey as a professional footballer.
The University’s innovative part-time programme, for which young players from both Celtic and Rangers have also signed up, combines campus-based workshops and online learning which will develop the academy players’ knowledge of elite sport in a business context.
It will support the players’ integration into the world of professional football, while at the same time developing important academic and business-related skills. This approach is being used to allow the players to understand their environment, find their place within it, and connect more productively with professional sport and the world of employment.
The players will begin their studies this month at a level which offers six modules over two years to Certificate of Higher Education standard, with topics including psychology, the athlete in sport, and football in the digital age.
They can continue studying part-time for a further two to four years to complete a BA in Business and Enterprise in Sport degree, building their management, communication and leadership skills, financial acumen, and ability to identify entrepreneurial opportunities.
Students enrolling on the new pilot course must be registered as academy level footballers, but do not require Scottish Higher level school qualifications for entry; they will typically have chosen to pursue a professional football career before completing their Higher year at school.
Upon successful completion of this award, these players will be at the same or a higher education point as their peers who chose to remain at school. In this way, we hope to remove the disadvantage of leaving school for these players, while fully supporting that choice by using their new environment as a context for their learning.
The course offers the flexibility other study options have lacked for youngsters dedicated to football, and could be the key to a future career in sporting performance, administration, funding or marketing.
The only one of its kind in Scotland, this course is being piloted with a limited number of clubs initially and will be evaluated with input from dual career experts across Europe, with a view to potentially rolling out the model nationally and internationally.
Dr Tom Campbell, Programme Lead, BA Business & Enterprise in Sport, said: “One of the real strengths of the programme lies in the widespread application of theory to a familiar context, allowing students to draw upon their existing sporting experience while generating new knowledge and understanding.
“This new development will see the same principles applied to the football academy environment, and having the academies’ input into the design of the course has been invaluable in creating a state-of-the-art programme.
“I have no doubt that the students will hit the ground running and find the course to be engaging and rewarding.”
News of the course follows the announcement in June of a collaboration between Edinburgh Napier and the Scottish FA to launch the BSc (Hons) Football Coaching, Performance & Development, a four-year undergraduate programme to develop coaching professionals for the modern game.
Dr Susan Brown, Edinburgh Napier lead for partnerships and enterprise in sport, said: “This programme, developed in collaboration with the clubs, is an important part of Edinburgh Napier’s commitment to supporting the dual career of athletes, not only those who have reached elite level performance, but also those who are committed to pursuing a career in performance sport but are still in the development stage.
“This approach will take advantage of the environment the players are in.
“There is mounting evidence that a dual career approach is beneficial to performance and not only a useful activity for the future. We believe we can help the clubs support their young players to succeed both on and off the pitch.”
She added: “It is in developing these productive partnerships that we as a University can support clubs, organisations and governing bodies in sport and ensure that our academic programmes are fit for purpose for the students we work with. This programme follows the new collaboration with the Scottish FA, and existing partnerships with Scottish Rugby, Scottish Gymnastics and Cricket Scotland in particular, where the University is a key partner in the development and delivery of education provision at multiple levels.”
Graeme Mathie, Sporting Director at Hibernian FC, said: “It is a fantastic position for us as a Club to be able to deliver not only a high quality football education, but now through this partnership with Edinburgh Napier, a high quality education programme to our players. It is very much aligned to our strategic aim of being a Learner’s Club, and I have no doubt the players will benefit from the programme.
“I would like to place on record my thanks to my colleagues Sean McPartlin and Steve Curnyn who have been in discussions with the university for some time in order to deliver this partnership, and also to confirm a list of learners of various ages and stages from within the Club.”
Roger Arnott, Heart of Midlothian FC Academy Manager, said: “As a club, we place a strong emphasis on developing our young players both on and off the park.
“This partnership with Edinburgh Napier offers our talented youngsters the chance to enrol in a fantastic higher education programme. We have no doubt that this will stand them in good stead in the years to come.”
Bright Red Triangle supporting more businesses than ever before
Bright Red Triangle – Edinburgh Napier University’s hub for innovation and enterprise – is supporting more businesses than ever before after an increase in the uptake of its services during lockdown.
The hub – which provides a range of support that allows students and alumni to explore, test and develop business ideas – has reported a 30% increase in business sign-ups.
Bright Red Triangle has had 71 start-ups register with it during 2019/20 – with a number of these new sign-ups coming during lockdown as students and alumni prepare for life in a post Covid-19 economy. A total of 554 students and graduates are now part of the wider Bright Red Triangle community.
Nick Fannin, head of Bright Red Triangle, is delighted with the increase and believes that more and more people will be looking to start their own business as a result of an increasingly difficult economic climate.
He said: “With the economy contracting and competition for graduate jobs increasing, it is becoming more important to enable our graduates to make opportunities for themselves and to be prepared to build their own portfolio careers from a mix of employed, freelance and self-employed work.
“Employability skills, particularly enterprise skills, are going to be incredibly important as we look forward and Bright Red Triangle has a big role to play at Edinburgh Napier in helping our students and alumni to prepare for life living in the post Covid-19 economy.
“Starting a business or a side hustle can be a game changer for people struggling with employment in the current economic climate. Our students and graduates are already starting to recognise this and we are thrilled to have seen a spike in the numbers of new businesses registered with our incubators. We look forward to supporting these start-ups further in the months and years ahead.”
Despite the University’s campuses being forced to close to both students and staff as a result of the pandemic in March, the Bright Red Triangle team has continued to virtually support its members with a number of online initiatives throughout the last four months.
Most recently – thanks to generous support from Santander Universities – 22 entrepreneurs representing 16 businesses took part in Bright Red Triangle’s Summer Accelerator programme.
Over the course of four weeks, its team of experienced business advisers delivered practical online workshops to support these ambitious entrepreneurs to accelerate their ideas and reach their business goals.
The programme also included a suite of helpful business start-up resources, one-to-one coaching, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing, networking opportunities, and advice from experienced professionals and entrepreneurs within the entrepreneurial eco-system in Edinburgh and beyond.
The programme culminated in a pitching competition, where participants had the chance to win a share of £6,000 provided by Santander Universities. Lindsey McArthur of Santander Universities and Bruce Walker, CEO of FutureX, were part of the judging panel.
Taking home the top prize of £3,000 was Fine Piece, a Scottish design company that specialises in producing furniture and homewares made from reclaimed and recycled materials.
Also winning was Aaron Reid who was awarded £2,000 towards his fitness training business, Lifestyle, and career coaching start-up, pRESPECT, who was awarded £500.
Fine Piece, which was founded by Edinburgh Napier product design graduate, Kirsty McKain and her business partner, Rebecca Subido, was delighted to take home the top prize.
Kirsty and Becka said: “Covid-19 was the catalyst for us to apply for the summer accelerator programme at Bright Red Triangle. Having fallen through every gap in the government support schemes, we thought we might have to close up shop.
“We saw an opportunity with a plan we had in the pipeline – the turning school. With the money given to us through the programme we can not only survive but we can turn this pipeline dream into a reality.
“We are really excited for the future and grateful to the Bright Red Triangle team and Santander for this opportunity.”
More information on Bright Red Triangle can be found here, with more on its Summer Accelerator Programme here.
Edinburgh Napier’s ground-breaking Get on Board programme has been honoured with a prestigious Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE).
The programme – which places students with the boards of charities, voluntary organisations and public bodies, and gives them opportunities to network with professionals and help make decisions which impact their community – is one of 15 winning projects from universities across the UK.
The CATE awards, announced yesterday by Advance HE, the body dedicated to helping higher education shape its future, recognise collaborative work that has had a demonstrable impact on teaching and learning, highlighting the key role of teamwork.
Get on Board was established in 2015, with academics Miles Weaver and Jacqueline Brodie working with the University’s careers service to deliver an extra-curriculum programme to support employability of students and address the key Scottish national outcome of improving board diversity. The pilot project won a Herald HE Award for Enhancing Student Learning.
The programme’s development was supported by a student steering group called Young Trustees in Scotland led by Elena Pershina, who was a fourth year undergraduate at the time and President of Young Trustees in Scotland.
The Get on Board team later joined forces with RSM and Santander, and further organisations and universities became involved as the competency pathway was developed as an opportunity to bolster trustee skills among students in Scotland, each partner bringing their own capabilities, training and networking opportunities.
Dr Brodie, Associate Professor, Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Edinburgh Napier’s Business School, said: “The Get on Board team are honoured to be awarded an Advance HE CATE. It has been a privilege to empower students to make a positive difference in their communities and support the development of their employability and enterprise skills in the process.”
Alison Johns, Advance HE CEO, said: “I am sure I am joined by the entire sector in congratulating the 2020 CATE awardees. All of the winners should be extremely proud of their achievement.
“Their work epitomises the outstanding commitment to teaching in the UK higher education sector, which this year has been more demanding than ever before.”
The Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence scheme was introduced in 2016, and is open to members of staff from all providers of higher education across the UK.
Edinburgh Napier and Sustrans team up for project funded by Road Safety Trust
A new report has found that school street closures[1] can improve the number of children walking, cycling and wheeling to school without creating road safety problems.
An increase in school street closures would also not result in traffic displacement causing road safety issues in neighbouring streets, the findings show.
The new report – led by Dr Adrian Davis, professor of transport and health at Edinburgh Napier University – sets out the findings of a review of existing literature on the impact of school street closures designed to create safer spaces for walking, cycling or street play.
A total of 16 studies – including three from Scottish authorities in Edinburgh, Perth and Kinross and East Lothian – were used to evidence the report.
The findings of these 16 studies have been supplemented by semi-structured telephone interviews with relevant officers responsible for local authority school street closure schemes.
Alongside increasing active travel, the findings also suggest that in almost all cases, the total number of motor vehicles across school street closures and neighbouring streets reduced.
There is also consistent evidence that motor traffic displacement does not cause road safety issues of any significance and that mitigating measures, where needed, have been applied successfully by local authorities.
The report also suggests that school street closures are supported by the majority of parents and residents living on the closed and neighbouring streets and that their support increases after any trial period.
The literature review is the first to provide an assessment of the impacts of school street closures published in the English language.
The Road Safety Trust, a charity dedicated to making the UK’s roads the safest in the world, awarded funding to Sustrans to evaluate the impact of school streets on the safety of surrounding roads.
The literature review is part of this ongoing wider project to investigate the impact of school streets – streets that are open to pedestrians and people on cycles but closed to cars at drop-off and pick-up times – for children’s safety.
Dr Adrian Davis, professor of transport and health at Edinburgh Napier University, said: “It is noteworthy that such a simple intervention can have really positive impacts in terms of increasing children physical activity levels and with this the associated improvements in wellbeing.
“School street closures looks to be a win-win for residents, schools and children and their families.”
John Lauder, deputy CEO Sustrans, said: “With the growth in numbers of family groups discovering the joy of cycling, walking, and scootering during lockdown, and with many parents and guardians continuing to work at home, the return to school is a crucial moment. We want it to be easy and sensible for as many children as possible to get to and from school actively.
“This research shows clearly how school street closures make the streets around schools safer, cleaner and healthier. It also shows that school streets help increase active travel to school, making it easier for children to start the school day awake and alert. We call on local authorities to give this consideration.”
Sally Lines, chief executive of Road Safety Trust, said: “We want to make the roads safer for all users in particular vulnerable road users which includes children, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, and the results from the literature review are a welcome step towards this.
“It’s great to see the funding we provided to Sustrans showing these early results in the form of the literature review and that the results can inform best practice across the UK.”
The City of Edinburgh Council has already trialled a number of school street closures within the city, including around Leith Primary, St Mary’s in Leith and Gilmerton Primary earlier this year.
A host of other measures, including street widening and traffic limits, have also been implemented across the city to help people socially distance while travelling and exercising.
The full literature review relating to school street closures can be found here.
The latest version of the largest student feedback survey in the world revealed an overall satisfaction level of 86 per cent at the University – up seven per cent on last year and well above the UK benchmark of 81 per cent.
Satisfaction levels among students rose in all six of the University’s Schools; Applied Sciences (84 to 86 per cent), Arts & Creative Industries (84 to 94), Computing (81 to 85), Engineering & the Built Environment (78 to 79), Health & Social Care (67 to 81) and the Business School (84 to 87).
Professor Andrea Nolan, Principal of Edinburgh Napier University, said: “I am delighted with this year’s student survey results, a clean sweep of improvement, and one that makes us the top university in Edinburgh for overall student satisfaction.
“These results are thanks to all the commitment, hard work and efforts made by staff over the last twelve months and I want to thank all the teams from across the University for playing their part. To have their work recognised in this way by our students is heart-warming.”
The survey revealed high levels of satisfaction with the quality of their course among students studying at Scottish universities.
This year’s results show that overall satisfaction with courses in Scotland has improved by one per cent since 2019 and now stands at 85 per cent for full-time students. 86 per cent of part-time students in Scotland are satisfied with their course. The figure is above the UK average of 83 per cent, which is the down from 84 per cent last year.
The NSS is carried out by the Office for Students (OfS) on behalf of the UK funding bodies. As well as capturing student views on the overall quality of their undergraduate degree, the survey gathers students’ responses to a series of questions relating to academic support, learning resources, teaching, management and assessment.
Every university in the UK participates in the survey, including some colleges and alternative providers. This year, the response rate was 68.6 per cent and a total of 311,432 students across the UK took part.
A STUDENT who almost dropped out of university after a series of mystery collapses is today celebrating completing her Edinburgh Napier degree at the same time as her classmates.
Natalie Dunsmore’s health woes emerged when as a second year she blacked out while on a sunshine break in Cyprus.
Many more episodes followed, including periods when Natalie collapsed every two or three days, once in front of a class at a lecture.
On another occasion she blacked out on the day of an exam, but still managed to complete the paper after being checked over by an ambulance crew.
However, her ill health was taking its toll, leaving her wondering if she would ever complete her studies.
“I decided close to the end of third year that I was going to give up university,” said Natalie, 21, of Harthill, Lanarkshire. “I felt as if I was a hassle to everyone, and decided it was easier to drop out.
“But the University pushed me on and told me I could do it. They had already put in place a buddy system for me, meaning someone from my year was with me at all times on campus.
They also gave me a medical pass with first aid instructions on a lanyard, and allowed me to use a separate exam room and have extra time if needed.
“The University couldn’t have done any more for me to ensure I felt safe on campus.
“Despite missing most of fourth year due to being unwell in hospital, I finally got diagnosed with epilepsy, and I managed to hand in my dissertation and complete fourth year normally alongside my peers. Looking back I’m so glad I stuck with it and pushed on.”
Natalie is now the proud holder of a BA (Hons) in Business Management.
She said: “Whatever problems people come across, there are always routes you can take to what you want to achieve. I had many low times when I thought dropping out was my best option, but I have overcome this and now have a degree after suffering terribly for three years of my course.”
Natalie now hopes to go on and do a Professional Graduate Diploma in Business Education with a view to taking up a teaching role.
Dr Mike Sanderson, lecturer in Human Resource Management and Disability Contact for the Business School, said: “The staff at Edinburgh Napier University have been extremely impressed by Natalie’s determination to complete her studies in the face of many health difficulties.
“As an institution we are highly student-focused, and will leave no stone unturned to explore ways in which we can support students through their studies.
“We are delighted for Natalie and congratulate her on this great achievement. She is an inspiration to us all.”
Jeshreena now has an MBA as well as a beautiful son!
BUSINESS student Jeshreena Palakkal had a good excuse for failing to turn up for a crucial exam – she had just given birth!
Jeshreena was due to sit the test as part of her MBA in Leadership Practice at Edinburgh Napier University.
However, she had to change her plans after the exam was scheduled for the day she was due to become a mum.
In the event, the heavily-pregnant student felt feverish and her unborn baby’s pulse was high so medics at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary decided to bring him into the world by emergency C-section 10 days early.
And by the time classmates were sweating it out in the exam room, Jeshreena was already getting to know her new son.
Baby Elan recovered well from his premature birth in April 2018 and is enjoying good health. And now, more than two years on, his mother is celebrating becoming a graduate.
Jeshreena, 25, originally from Kerala, south-west India, but now living in Leith, said: “I couldn’t believe it. I only had one exam in the whole year, and it turned out to be the day my baby was due.
“Fortunately I was able to delay the exam until the following April, and I was also able to secure extra time to complete written assignments. It has been hard but I have finally made it to the end of my degree journey and I also have a lovely little boy.
“I feel so proud of myself for getting to graduation and also extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to study here and meet such wonderful people. I am planning to stay in Edinburgh.”
Jeshreena found out she was pregnant just days after getting a visa to come to Edinburgh Napier to study for her Masters after taking her first degree in India.
Her husband Hashim persuaded her she should not give up on her academic dream and they came to Scotland together, Jeshreena battling through morning sickness, giving birth then postnatal depression while safety adviser Hashim – who has since then began his own MBA course at Edinburgh Napier – worked night and day to support them.
Jeshreena said: “There were times when I was in extreme pain due to my C-section stitches but I didn’t rest even for a day, with housework and university assignments to do as well as looking after the baby.
“There were days when I had a feeding baby in one hand and with the other I was typing out an assignment on my laptop, but I finally did it with the support of my husband and my wonderful tutors.”
Dr Paul Langford, lecturer in financial services at Edinburgh Napier, said: “Jeshreena has shown admirable resilience in overcoming the obstacles in her way to graduation – gaining her MBA Leadership Practice is an impressive achievement and we wish her well in her future career!”
“The ups reminded me where I wanted to go, and the downs pushed me to get there”
A STUDENT who lost five family members to violent crime in two months has told how she battled through grief to graduate with distinction from Edinburgh Napier University.
Hazina Alladin’s world was turned upside down by the deaths of two cousins, a cousin-in-law, an uncle and his wife in two separate home invasion robberies in her home country of Trinidad.
She admits the murders brought her “to her knees”, and led to her ignoring her mental and emotional health as she threw herself into the demands of both her day job and study programme.
Hazina credits the university’s Wellbeing & Support online pages with helping her eventually come to terms with her grief, anger and disbelief, as well as her Christian faith, confidence-boosting voluntary work and creative hobbies like photography and dancing.
Now she has learned that she has graduated from Edinburgh Napier with a BA with Distinction in Business & Enterprise. Despite the family tragedies in her Caribbean homeland, she achieved merits and distinctions for all of her assignments on the online course.
Hazina, 28, who was also elected Online Programme Representative at the university, said: “Coping with my losses while working full-time, volunteering, studying for a degree and being away from my family was indeed challenging. However, I realised I needed both the peaks and the valleys to keep moving forward. The ups reminded me where I wanted to go, and the downs pushed me to get there.”
The first incident happened in Penal, south Trinidad, in August last year. While working on a course assignment, Hazina learned in a call from her mother that two cousins and one of their wives had been found dead in their house with gunshot wounds and cuts to their throats.
She said: “I fell to my knees and cried uncontrollably. I screamed the word ‘no’ for hours until my voice was gone. It was absolutely heartbreaking.”
Two months later, a retired uncle and his wife were killed in a violent home invasion in Central Trinidad. A 24-year-old suspect was later arrested after being spotted driving their stolen vehicle.
In the weeks that followed, Hazina experienced outbursts of grief but also began following processes that helped her create space for herself.
She said: “I was afraid that these tragic events would affect my ability to continue learning.
“Grief made everything feel like an extra effort, whether it was making friends or submitting work, but there were plenty of resources available at Edinburgh Napier to help me work though my feelings. The Wellbeing & Support site was extremely helpful. I explored books on the Shelf Help section and strategies to reduce pain and boost my ability to cope.
“I also enjoyed networking with Edinburgh Napier’s global community of students, and the online programme rep role was a big help in this. It involved keeping abreast of student issues on our degree programme, representing students’ interests and addressing issues that impacted on the quality of their experience at the university.”
Now Hazina – who earlier studied at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School – is putting what she learned from her one-year online course at Edinburgh Napier to good use in her current job with a property development firm in New York City, where she has lived for four years.
She said: “I was offered a position as Administrator just two months after enrolling at Napier. I am responsible for coordinating office activities in compliance to company policy and procedure. Now, I can better relate to the company after learning about business plans and how to calculate the return on the investments a company makes and how different business models work.
“I’ve found that when you are able to apply the material and talk about how it relates to life today, you’re much more able to remember it. It’s almost like your brain presses an ‘on’ switch and you start to absorb the material better because you are at least partially invested in it.”
Dr Kingsley Omeihe, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Edinburgh Napier’s Business School, said: “Hazina is an outstanding, dedicated and talented student.
“Achieving a distinction is an impressive feat, and the fact that she has been able to do as well as she has, given the circumstances, says a lot about her. Her personal qualities are as impressive as her intellectual accomplishments.”
Edinburgh Napier University and Scottish Enterprise deliver sector-wide recovery initiative
From April to June, four themed workgroups reviewed the challenges facing Scottish tourism as it reeled from the impact of Covid-19. The scale of the challenge facing the sector – one of Scotland’s largest employers – was obvious from the first day of lockdown and, ultimately, more than 85% of personnel have been furloughed over the period.
In response, in March, Scottish Enterprise and Edinburgh Napier University, the partnership which runs the ground-breaking Destination Leaders Programme (DLP), acted to harness the experience and expertise of more than 120 DLP alumni, launching DLP Assembles to support a pathway to recovery.
“When we launched, the aim was to provide identified actions, outputs and outcomes to help recovery,” explains Professor Jane Ali-Knight of the Edinburgh Napier Business School.
“Involvement was designed to ensure participation came under the acceptable category of professional training for ‘furloughed’ professionals, and we used the DLP alumni network to form the project groups to ensure a good mix of experience and expertise. We also matched the workgroups with mentors and professional support to guide participants on their themes and tasks.”
DLP alumni used their connections to bring together the network of professionals who considered each theme – guided by weekly discussions with mentors drawn from DLP alumni and Edinburgh Napier. Mentors helped focus each group’s actions around the Scottish tourism strategy, Scotland Outlook 2030, and provided regular updates on government funding and initiatives.
Aileen Lamb from Scottish Enterprise adds: “We wanted the programme to encourage innovative thinking across a range of themes, but most importantly we wanted to help maintain and extend participants’ professional skills, expertise and experience, and their networking during furlough.
“This project was built upon the alumni network of the Destination Leaders Programme. It is an excellent example of successful collaboration across academia, the public sector and the tourism industry. What Covid-19 has shown us, despite empty hotels, attractions and airports, is the passion, innovation and resilience of the people who work in this critical industry.”
Kenneth Wardrop, a fellow DLP founder, adds: “Using the DLP alumni we were able to act quickly and ensure we coordinated with groups such as Edinburgh Tourism Action Group and the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group.
“Everyone involved is to be commended for the quality, professionalism and practical solutions identified. They will all be vital in adjusting business operations to post Covid-19 challenges, and the longer-term strategic planning for the recovery of the sector.”
The practical recommendations of each workgroup were presented in individual online sessions in June.
An undoubted highlight has been an interactive toolkit for visitor attractions and experiences, which is now hosted on the VisitScotland website. The Toolkit includes case studies from across the world and suggests technological solutions to suit different budgets, as well as short, medium and long-term ideas.
“It covers everything from online ticketing and social distancing, to moving content online and creating your own podcast,” explains Thayanne Scardini, who volunteered to work on the Toolkit workgroup with fellow tourism professionals Karin Gidlund and Jemma Reid.
“We believe the Toolkit will be a great starting point for attractions and experiences who are looking into diversifying through technology, helping to prepare them for a safe reopening for both visitors and staff, whilst meeting visitors’ expectations and improving customer experience. It has many recommendations for applying technology that can also be helpful for other sectors as well.”
For Antony Carter, and his fellow participants on the Business Events workgroup, they quickly realised that – whether global chain or local venue – the priority going forward is to find ways to reassure clients that operations are safe.
“In the past, operational staff at events were meant to blend into the background; going forward clients and attendees will want to see the operational team front and centre – whether they are cleaning or managing movement around a venue.
“Our report recommends ways that venues can demonstrate how they have alleviated risk effectively, and that includes collaboration throughout the supply chain.”
For Colin Corson and the Whisky workgroup, ‘collaboration’ also became their watchword: “Whether you are a self-catering provider who wants to welcome guests with a fridge full of local produce, (and a local malt of course), or two attractions selling combined tickets online to avoid the need for queuing, collaboration is vital to future success.
” It can minimise congestion in local shops; help improve the experience for guests and local businesses; and help local communities – as well as visitors – feel safer as they move forward.”
From conception to conclusion, collaboration is the theme that sums up the ‘Pathway to Recovery’ project.
Jane Ali-Knight adds: “The University is incredibly proud to have worked with Scottish Enterprise to lead and drive this project forward. We applaud the hard work of all the workgroup participants, against the backdrop of the many challenges of lockdown, and the professional uncertainty, anxiety and disruption.
“That hard work was marked by the presentation of Certificates of Participation to all group members on Friday 10th July.”
