University of East London: Industrial and legal fellows receive awards
The Royal Docks School of Business and Law (RDSBL) at the University of East London (UEL) has hosted an award sceremony to honour new RDSBL industrial and law fellows.
The event took place at University Square Stratford campus on Wednesday 28 September and was attended by over 50 high profile individuals working across a range of industries including finance, banking, HR and recruitment, hospitality and those working in the legal and the criminal justice system.
Inaugurating the evening and the awards ceremony, Vice-Chancellor and President of UEL, Professor Amanda Broderick said:
Our ten-year strategy, Vision 2028, aims to create a careers-facing education for learners, producing graduates with the skills, tools and competencies sought by employers in a rapidly changing world. As a University, we are constantly evolving, yet our mission remains clear, to increase the diversity of the talent pipeline, to prepare our students for the jobs and opportunities of the future and to drive forward that future inclusively and sustainably. We look forward to working with our impressive set of Industrial and Law Fellows in achieving this.”
The Industrial and Law Fellows initiative was launched by Professor Mohammad Ali, Dean of RDSBL, whose mission is to integrate these fellows into becoming a valuable part of the RDSBL community along with its students and staff. Professor Ali says, “As a careers first business and law school, we want to work directly with industry-based practitioners to enhance the educational and professional opportunities for our students; thus not only providing them with the theoretical contexts of their subject specialisms but accentuating their learning experiences with evidence, interaction and stimulation from the practitioner world.”
VC&P and Mohammed Ali with award winner
The evening also witnessed the launch of RDSBL’s two new practice-based centres: the Business Advice Centre and the Criminal Justice Project. These centres will join the existing practice-based centres like the Centre of FinTech which was launched earlier this year at the Houses of Parliament under the auspices of Stephen Timms MP with the aim of building a more diverse pipeline of FinTech talent for the global digital economy. RDSBL also houses a Tax and Accountancy Clinicand a Legal Advice Centre that opened their doors to small business and individuals in the community who need free, reliable and professional advice.
The new Business Advice Centre will aim to follow suit; to help and provide support to local businesses in all areas of business development, knowledge exchange and consultancy. The new Criminal Justice Project will see students working with the legal charity APPEAL, looking at and supporting cases of miscarriages of justice.
Saadiya Ahmad, director of careers and enterprise and director of the Legal Advice Centre at RDSBL said: “Our practice-based centres help students put their skills into practice, supported and supervised by our qualified staff. We endeavour to support our students in getting their careers started, long before they graduate!”