Forging new partnerships with internationally renowned events venues

For nearly ten years, the Edge Hotel School has combined high teaching quality with integrated practical experience in a fully-commercial hotel, Wivenhoe House. For students on our Events Management programmes, this has involved working across the varied suite of events that form the successful Events and Conferences function of the hotel, including weddings, corporate conferences and other celebrations. To further benefit the students on our Events programmes, however, the School has sought to greater expand the opportunities it provides its students beyond the historic walls of Wivenhoe House hotel.

New opportunities

In recent months, our Events Management students have benefitted from new partnerships formed through the hard work of our Events Management Lecturer and Course Co-ordinator Philip Berners, establishing new avenues for our students to gain exceptional events experience throughout their studies. 

Philip is keen to promote these opportunities and how they benefit our students. “We have developed longstanding co-operations with industry partners to secure exclusive opportunities which are not available at any other university. One of these partnerships is at the London o2 Arena where the BRIT Awards are staged. Our Events Management students are offered the exclusive opportunity to supervise the corporate sponsored boxes at the BRITs and see stars such as Stormzy and Adele. We have now extended this relationship to include work experience at other events in the o2 Arena, plus our Level 6 Event Project module is now exclusively partnered with the o2 for final year Events Management students to deliver a live event project to an external client.”

“Another exclusive opportunity is for our students to gain paid work experience at Ascot Racecourse which includes overnight accommodation and contribution to travel expenses – this has proved very popular across our hotel, hospitality and events courses.”

For these opportunities to continue and evolve, it is vital that the students from the Edge Hotel School are ready for the challenges that come with working in a live, external environment. The students who have taken advantage of these exclusive opportunities are often praised by the external providers.

Philip continues: “To achieve these opportunities for our students requires good relations with our industry network and an open and ongoing communication process to oversee the quality of experience our students receive - but also to ensure the industry partner is happy with our students and that the arrangement continues to benefit both sides. We are pleased that our industry partners consider Edge Hotel School students as valuable because of their confidence and capability.”

Student benefits

Philip believes that these opportunities can provide immense benefit to students on our Events Management courses, particularly in the context of exploring opportunities away from our own fully-commercial 4* hotel, Wivenhoe House. “Partnering with industry provides further learning opportunities outside the environment of Wivenhoe House on campus and allows our students to gain wider experience of events and further develop their practical skills, leadership, problem-solving, communication and confidence to ensure that when they graduate from the Edge Hotel School they are industry-ready.”

And with 94% of Edge Hotel School students in employment or further study per the Graduate Outcomes Survey 2021 (and 100% per the Graduate Outcomes Survey 2020), it’s clear that “industry-ready” is a great descriptor of the students coming from Edge Hotel School.