BPP boosts employability through transformative education
The global job market is becoming increasingly cutthroat as companies struggle to recover from the financial crisis. Graduates need more than a diploma to guarantee employability. Aiming to provide industry-relevant skill sets that will differentiate its graduates from competition, BPP blends practical and theoretical pedagogy to hone professionals that can thrive in a corporate setting.
The global job market is becoming increasingly cutthroat as companies struggle to recover from the financial crisis. Graduates need more than a diploma to guarantee employability. Aiming to provide industry-relevant skill sets that will differentiate its graduates from competition, BPP blends practical and theoretical pedagogy to hone professionals that can thrive in a corporate setting.
"We change students to help them succeed in their chosen profession. We require the traditional academic underpinning, but the premise of our pedagogies is built around practical case studies. Our programmes are designed through industry collaboration, which makes them very realistic," says Professor Carl Lygo, group CEO.
As one of Britain's largest education providers, BPP offers transformative learning experiences through three entities: BPP Professional Education, BPP University and BPP Learning Media.
BPP Professional Education is the cornerstone on which the whole group is built. Through BPP Professional Education, BPP made its name in Britain providing exam training for external professional bodies in the areas of accountancy, actuarial science, tax, financial services, insolvency and short-course professional development.
BPP Professional Education's client base comprises the majority of the FTSE Index - a share index of 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalisation. BPP also works with 32 leading British and international law firms.
"We strive to be the place where very large blue-chip firms and professional service firms send their trainees and employees," says Lil Bremermann-Richard, international commercial director.
Building on its experience in providing professional qualifications, BPP broadened its scope and established BPP University. The university offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes under the schools of law, business, health, and foundation and English language studies.
A winner of the prestigious Education Investor Award "Post-16 Education Provider of the Year", BPP University serves as a stepping stone for students to secure prestigious careers. In Legal Week Intelligence's "Law Student Report 2014", BPP Law School was ranked among the top five universities in Britain for its quality of teaching.
To prepare students for the corporate environment, BPP University provides industry practitioners as personal tutors. The tutors guide every student in identifying their practical objectives and advise them on how to achieve set goals.
BPP helps other learning institutions groom students through its publishing arm, BPP Learning Media, which provides printed and digital study materials to 186 countries, including China. BPP Learning Media publishes course materials for accounting, business management, health care, and tourism and hospitality, among others.
"Students probably never know we're a sort of 'Intel chip inside' of universities," says Lauren Muller, regional commercial head, Asia-Pacific. "We don't keep our knowledge within the confines of our school. We also enable other colleges and universities to share in our expertise and to impart them to their students."
To extend its objective of cross-border education, BPP attracts students worldwide. The group approaches secondary schools and universities abroad to promote BPP University. BPP recruits students from China, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, South Korea and the Philippines.
BPP is also working with industry clients to provide professional qualifications services in their locations outside Britain, particularly in Asia.
"We feel that education systems and student skills in Asia are different from Britain. We are looking at developing our programmes to ensure we can bring those qualifications in Asia," Bremermann-Richard says.
BPP uses different channels to deliver its education programmes to reach a wider international clientele. The group is open to collaborative projects with universities to develop distance and online learning solutions that promote an effective online classroom.
BPP also plans to establish campuses in major commercial centres globally. "In Asia, I envision BPP as an international consultant, looking at skills gaps and tailoring solutions to address them," Lygo says.
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