UTS and medium businesses – a pro-active engagement
Have you thought about hiring graduates? Alice Watkins from UTS Career Services explains how the University is grooming candiates specifically for mid sized businesses.
Medium businesses may feel that they are off the radar for universities. Certainly, universities have been traditionally linked with large corporations and the government sector, and many students have entered these sectors.
However in Australia, on a percentage basis, there are more people employed, and more firms in the small and medium sector than there are in most developed countries. The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) is actively engaging with the sector through research and appropriately educating students.
The sector is rapidly growing in importance in the economy according to Professor Roy Green, Dean of Business at UTS. Under Green’s guidance, research investigating the needs of the sector and the factors necessary for future success is taking place. Green stresses the importance of ‘creating an environment where companies can grow and develop relationships to enable success.’ Green points to the need for medium businesses to develop links with larger companies, universities and research institutes, and to the importance of embracing both technical and non technical innovation.
Meanwhile, Associate Professor Antoine Hermens, head of the management discipline group at the UTS Business School, looks at the issues facing small and medium businesses and the strategies needed for survival. Hermens has first hand knowledge of the pressures facing medium businesses and honed his practical skills in a very successful family business and in senior roles in the corporate sector. He is only too aware of the day to day constraints of cash flows, immediacy, the need for skilled resources, and the intrusion that running a business forces on the owner 24/7. This practical insight complements his academic research and teaching in business management.
Green aims to produce graduates who are well equipped to contribute in the medium business sector. He sees the need for graduates who are not just specialised, but who have boundary crossing skills. Both technical and management skills are required along with leadership, critical thinking, creativity and innovative thinking.
UTS has invested considerable resources into integrating relevant skills throughout the curriculum. Further, UTS is facilitating the engagement of businesses with the university through various intern programs across UTS.
Medium businesses are invited to find out more about what UTS is doing in the sector and what UTS graduates and students have to offer them. A complimentary business breakfast seminar will be held on 19 November at the university Broadway Campus at which Assoc. Professor Hermens is one of the speakers. Find further information and the link to registration here.
Alice Watkins is currently responsible for SME engagement at the UTS Careers Service. She has been involved with employer engagement and internship programs at UTS for over ten years and has lectured in management and marketing. Alice holds an MBA from Edinburgh University, Scotland, and also has tertiary qualifications in Psychology, Higher Education and Organisational Behaviour. Contact Alice via email alice.watkins@uts.edu.au.
