Mortarboards at the Ready! The Viridor Foundation Degree - EU Skills

Mortarboards at the Ready! The Viridor Foundation Degree

The Viridor Foundation Degree, accredited by Edge Hill University was initially run in 2012 and is aimed at managers and supervisors who are seeking to personally develop their management and leadership knowledge base and skills.

Mortarboards at the Ready! The Viridor Foundation Degree

Over the last two years the latest cohort of managers, drawn from across the South West have been progressing through a series of eight modules each lasting six weeks. Over this period they have been covering topics which are relevant to their workplace and the students are encouraged to apply what they are learning into their working environments. The modules include employee engagement, leadership, finance and managing change. One of the students said, “This is a fantastic way to learn more about managing people; being able to listen to real-life examples from within your own company!”

As a culmination of their hard work they are asked to prepare presentations on something within the company that means a lot to the individual. With the current economic climate many businesses are undergoing a lot of change. Viridor is no different and this group of students chose to focus their presentations on the challenges of change. There were a number of humorous moments throughout the presentations, including a moment when the audience were left in the dark – making a reference to monitoring electricity usage within the company and turning lights off when they are not needed!

Comprising of managers working in Landfill and Operations to office based staff who focus on Corporate Responsibility the areas of expertise were diverse and culminated in a truly vibrant presentation! The students from the South West will graduate this June along with their South Eastern counterparts, these are the second group of Graduates following an initial cohort of students from the Northern region graduating last year.

Chris Whittle, Head of Training and Development said over the scheme, “The Foundation degree has offered a wide group of employees from different areas of the company the opportunity to develop their management and leadership skills by focussing on a wide range of topics and comparing academic theory to their actual role in the business. The modules cover subjects which are important to us as a business and the impact of the learning is spreading throughout the company and will continue to do so as more delegates join the course this year.”

Simon Catford, HR and Regulatory Director commented on the day, “The presentations were of the highest quality and linked together well in a coherent journey around effective employee engagement and the part managers play in achieving this goal. What was evident was the level of preparation, planning and thought that had gone into these presentations and the passion with which they were delivered. The whole event underscored the importance of positioning able, committed and well-rounded managers into Viridor at every level and I encourage them to continue to spread the message across the business.”

Following the success of the scheme so far there will be another three groups starting the degree course in April.

Picture Caption: The Students after their presentations L-R: (back row) Russell Humphreys, Stewart Ennew, Nick Wilson, Olly Young, Jonathan Towne, (front row) Adrian Bailey, Chris Patten, Catherine Sargent, Mel Huggins.