BGU Ambassadors Discuss International Business during Embassy Visit

Staff and students from the Business (Team Entrepreneurship) course at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) were invited to visit the Finnish and Hungarian Embassies in London to discuss opportunities to promote international business initiatives.

Chris Jackson, Senior Lecturer and Team Coach on the TE programme, received an invitation from the Finnish Embassy via the regional Honorary Finnish Consul, Camilla Carlbom-Flinn, who is keen to promote the ongoing relationships that BGU’s Business and Enterprise team have built with Finnish organisations.

Chris was joined on the visit by his academic colleague Pete Tasi along with students Daria Pipczyenka and Chris Sandham.

The main topic of discussion was promoting the forthcoming Team 4 Learning (T4L) event that will be hosted at BGU next February. T4L is an international event that brings together students, team coaches and alumni connected with the Team Academy (Tiimiakatemia) programme (which forms the basis of BGU’s TE course).

For next year’s event the team at BGU are planning to broaden the scope to include organisations who are now using Team Academy methods in their everyday business practice.

The BGU visitors were received at the Embassy by Special Advisor Minttu Taajamo, who also invited colleagues from the Anglo-Finnish Chamber of Commerce and Business Finland.

For Chris the trip offered an exciting opportunity to see representatives from BGU involved at the heart of international cooperation:

“Daria and Chris did a first class job as ambassadors for BGU, and represented us well at the Embassy. This was an incredible learning opportunity for them. The Embassy were very supportive and we now need to continue discussions with them to see exactly what this support could look like in practice and how we might be able to collaborate further.”

While in London, BGU’s ambassadors were also able to visit the Hungarian Embassy where they met with the Science and Technology attache, who was a colleague of Pete Tasi at the Budapest Business School. A Hungarian national, Pete has joined BGU for a year, to work on both the BA (Hons) Team Entrepreneurship and BA (Hons) Business courses.

Pete discussed the positive impact this meeting could have on both the students involved and the wider BGU community:

“We encourage our students to get out and meet prospects and build active networks, so it seemed crazy not to make the most of this opportunity and show them the potential of real networking.

"We explained about the nature and scope of our work at BGU and it looks as if there are opportunities for us to collaborate further, which is pretty exciting. We already have an invitation to return and meet with some Hungarian start-ups based in the UK at an event organised by the Embassy.”

If you’re interested in a future in international business or in starting your own company, our business courses are the perfect path to take. You can find more information on them on our website or by contacting our Enquiries Team. Better yet, why not attend one of our Open Days and experience BGU first hand?